stages of research writing

How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
• Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
• Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
• Undertake your own research
• Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, the ultimate blueprint: a research-driven deep dive into the 13 steps of the writing process.

• © 2023 by Joseph M. Moxley - University of South Florida

This article provides a comprehensive, research-based introduction to the major steps , or strategies , that writers work through as they endeavor to communicate with audiences . Since the 1960s, the writing process has been defined to be a series of steps , stages, or strategies. Most simply, the writing process is conceptualized as four major steps: prewriting , drafting , revising , editing . That model works really well for many occasions. Yet sometimes you'll face really challenging writing tasks that will force you to engage in additional steps, including, prewriting , inventing , drafting , collaborating , researching , planning , organizing , designing , rereading , revising , editing , proofreading , sharing or publishing . Expand your composing repertoire -- your ability to respond with authority , clarity , and persuasiveness -- by learning about the dispositions and strategies of successful, professional writers.

Like water cascading to the sea, flow feels inevitable, natural, purposeful. Yet achieving flow is a state of mind that can be difficult to achieve. It requires full commitment to the believing gam e (as opposed to the doubting game ).

What are the Steps of the Writing Process?

Since the 1960s, it has been popular to describe the writing process as a series of steps or stages . For simple projects, the writing process is typically defined as four major steps:

• drafting  

This simplified approach to writing is quite appropriate for many exigencies–many calls to write . Often, e.g., we might read an email quickly, write a response, and then send it: write, revise, send.

However, in the real world, for more demanding projects — especially in high-stakes workplace writing or academic writing at the high school and college level — the writing process involve additional  steps,  or  strategies , such as 

• collaboration
• researching
• proofreading
• sharing or publishing.  

Related Concepts: Mindset ; Self Regulation

Summary – Writing Process Steps

The summary below outlines the major steps writers work through as they endeavor to develop an idea for an audience .

1. Prewriting

Prewriting refers to all the work a writer does on a writing project before they actually begin writing .

Acts of prewriting include

• Prior to writing a first draft, analyze the context for the work. For instance, in school settings students may analyze how much of their grade will be determined by a particular assignment. They may question how many and what sources are required and what the grading criteria will be used for critiquing the work.
• To further their understanding of the assignment, writers will question who the audience is for their work, what their purpose is for writing, what style of writing their audience expects them to employ, and what rhetorical stance is appropriate for them to develop given the rhetorical situation they are addressing. (See the document planner heuristic for more on this)
• consider employing rhetorical appeals ( ethos , pathos , and logos ), rhetorical devices , and rhetorical modes they want to develop once they begin writing
• reflect on the voice , tone , and persona they want to develop
• Following rhetorical analysis and rhetorical reasoning , writers decide on the persona ; point of view ; tone , voice and style of writing they hope to develop, such as an academic writing prose style or a professional writing prose style
• making a plan, an outline, for what to do next.

2. Invention

Invention is traditionally defined as an initial stage of the writing process when writers are more focused on discovery and creative play. During the early stages of a project, writers brainstorm; they explore various topics and perspectives before committing to a specific direction for their discourse .

In practice, invention can be an ongoing concern throughout the writing process. People who are focused on solving problems and developing original ideas, arguments , artifacts, products, services, applications, and  texts are open to acts of invention at any time during the writing process.

Writers have many different ways to engage in acts of invention, including

• What is the exigency, the call to write ?
• What are the ongoing scholarly debates in the peer-review literature?
• What is the problem ?
• What do they read? watch? say? What do they know about the topic? Why do they believe what they do? What are their beliefs, values, and expectations ?
• What rhetorical appeals — ethos (credibility) , pathos (emotion) , and logos (logic) — should I explore to develop the best response to this exigency , this call to write?
• What does peer-reviewed research say about the subject?
• What are the current debates about the subject?
• Embrace multiple viewpoints and consider various approaches to encourage the generation of original ideas.
• How can I experiment with different media , genres , writing styles , personas , voices , tone
• Experiment with new research methods
• Write whatever ideas occur to you. Focus on generating ideas as opposed to writing grammatically correct sentences. Get your thoughts down as fully and quickly as you can without critiquing them.
• Use heuristics to inspire discovery and creative thinking: Burke’s Pentad ; Document Planner , Journalistic Questions , The Business Model Canvas
• Embrace the uncertainty that comes with creative exploration.
• Listen to your intuition — your felt sense — when composing
• Experiment with different writing styles , genres , writing tools, and rhetorical stances
• Play the believing game early in the writing process

3. Researching

Research refers to systematic investigations that investigators carry out to discover new  knowledge , test knowledge claims , solve  problems , or develop new texts , products, apps, and services.

During the research stage of the writing process, writers may engage in

• Engage in customer discovery interviews and  survey research  in order to better understand the  problem space . Use  surveys , interviews, focus groups, etc., to understand the stakeholder’s s (e.g., clients, suppliers, partners) problems and needs
• What can you recall from your memory about the subject?
• What can you learn from informal observation?
• What can you learn from strategic searching of the archive on the topic that interests you?
• Who are the thought leaders?
• What were the major turns to the conversation ?
• What are the current debates on the topic ?
• Mixed research methods , qualitative research methods , quantitative research methods , usability and user experience research ?
• What citation style is required by the audience and discourse community you’re addressing? APA | MLA .

4. Collaboration

Collaboration  refers to the act of working with others to exchange ideas, solve problems, investigate subjects ,  coauthor   texts , and develop products and services.

Collaboration can play a major role in the writing process, especially when authors coauthor documents with peers and teams , or critique the works of others .

Acts of collaboration include

• Paying close attention to what others are saying, acknowledging their input, and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding.
• Expressing ideas, thoughts, and opinions in a concise and understandable manner, both verbally and in writing.
• Being receptive to new ideas and perspectives, and considering alternative approaches to problem-solving.
• Adapting to changes in project goals, timelines, or team dynamics, and being willing to modify plans when needed.
• Distributing tasks and responsibilities fairly among team members, and holding oneself accountable for assigned work.
• valuing and appreciating the unique backgrounds, skills, and perspectives of all team members, and leveraging this diversity to enhance collaboration.
• Addressing disagreements or conflicts constructively and diplomatically, working towards mutually beneficial solutions.
• Providing constructive feedback to help others improve their work, and being open to receiving feedback to refine one’s own ideas and contributions.
• Understanding and responding to the emotions, needs, and concerns of team members, and fostering a supportive and inclusive environment .
• Acknowledging and appreciating the achievements of the team and individual members, and using successes as a foundation for continued collaboration and growth.

5. Planning

Planning refers to

• the process of planning how to organize a document
• the process of managing your writing processes

6. Organizing

Following rhetorical analysis , following prewriting , writers question how they should organize their texts. For instance, should they adopt the organizational strategies of academic discourse or workplace-writing discourse ?

Writing-Process Plans

• What is your Purpose? – Aims of Discourse
• What steps, or strategies, need to be completed next?
• set a schedule to complete goals

Planning Exercises

• Document Planner
• Team Charter

7. Designing

Designing refers to efforts on the part of the writer

• to leverage the power of visual language to convey meaning
• to create a visually appealing text

During the designing stage of the writing process, writers explore how they can use the  elements of design  and  visual language to signify , clarify , and simplify the message.

Examples of the designing step of the writing process:

• Establishing a clear hierarchy of visual elements, such as headings, subheadings, and bullet points, to guide the reader’s attention and facilitate understanding.
• Selecting appropriate fonts, sizes, and styles to ensure readability and convey the intended tone and emphasis.
• Organizing text and visual elements on the page or screen in a manner that is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and supports the intended message.
• Using color schemes and contrasts effectively to create a visually engaging experience, while also ensuring readability and accessibility for all readers.
• Incorporating images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and videos to support and enrich the written content, and to convey complex ideas in a more accessible format.
• Designing content that is easily accessible to a wide range of readers, including those with visual impairments, by adhering to accessibility guidelines and best practices.
• Maintaining a consistent style and design throughout the text, which includes the use of visuals, formatting, and typography, to create a cohesive and professional appearance.
• Integrating interactive elements, such as hyperlinks, buttons, and multimedia, to encourage reader engagement and foster deeper understanding of the content.

8. Drafting

Drafting refers to the act of writing a preliminary version of a document — a sloppy first draft. Writers engage in exploratory writing early in the writing process. During drafting, writers focus on freewriting: they write in short bursts of writing without stopping and without concern for grammatical correctness or stylistic matters.

When composing, writers move back and forth between drafting new material, revising drafts, and other steps in the writing process.

9. Rereading

Rereading refers to the process of carefully reviewing a written text. When writers reread texts, they look in between each word, phrase, sentence, paragraph. They look for gaps in content, reasoning, organization, design, diction, style–and more.

When engaged in the physical act of writing — during moments of composing — writers will often pause from drafting to reread what they wrote or to reread some other text they are referencing.

10. Revising

Revision  — the process of revisiting, rethinking, and refining written work to improve its  content ,  clarity  and overall effectiveness — is such an important part of  the writing process  that experienced writers often say  “writing is revision” or “all writing is revision.”  

For many writers, revision processes are deeply intertwined with writing, invention, and reasoning strategies:

• “Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what one is saying.” — John Updike
• “How do I know what I think until I see what I say.” — E.M. Forster

Acts of revision include

• Pivoting: trashing earlier work and moving in a new direction
• Identifying Rhetorical Problems
• Identifying Structural Problems
• Identifying Language Problems
• Identifying Critical & Analytical Thinking Problems

11. Editing

Editing  refers to the act of  critically reviewing  a  text  with the goal of identifying and rectifying sentence and word-level problems.

When  editing , writers tend to focus on  local concerns  as opposed to  global concerns . For instance, they may look for

• problems weaving sources into your argument or analysis
• problems establishing  the authority of sources
• problems using the required  citation style
• mechanical errors  ( capitalization ,  punctuation ,  spelling )
• sentence errors ,  sentence structure errors
• problems with  diction ,  brevity ,  clarity ,  flow ,  inclusivity , register, and  simplicity

12. Proofreading

Proofreading refers to last time you’ll look at a document before sharing or publishing the work with its intended audience(s). At this point in the writing process, it’s too late to add in some new evidence you’ve found to support your position. Now you don’t want to add any new content. Instead, your goal during proofreading is to do a final check on word-level errors, problems with diction , punctuation , or syntax.

13. Sharing or Publishing

Sharing refers to the last step in the writing process: the moment when the writer delivers the message — the text — to the target audience .

Writers may think it makes sense to wait to share their work later in the process, after the project is fairly complete. However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes you can save yourself a lot of trouble by bringing in collaborators and critics earlier in the writing process.

Doherty, M. (2016, September 4). 10 things you need to know about banyan trees. Under the Banyan. https://underthebanyan.blog/2016/09/04/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-banyan-trees/

Emig, J. (1967). On teaching composition: Some hypotheses as definitions. Research in The Teaching of English, 1(2), 127-135. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED022783.pdf

Emig, J. (1971). The composing processes of twelfth graders (Research Report No. 13). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Emig, J. (1983). The web of meaning: Essays on writing, teaching, learning and thinking. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc.

Ghiselin, B. (Ed.). (1985). The Creative Process: Reflections on the Invention in the Arts and Sciences . University of California Press.

Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. (1980). Identifying the Organization of Writing Processes. In L. W. Gregg, & E. R. Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive Processes in Writing: An Interdisciplinary Approach (pp. 3-30). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.  

Hayes, J. R. (2012). Modeling and remodeling writing. Written Communication, 29(3), 369-388. https://doi: 10.1177/0741088312451260

Hayes, J. R., & Flower, L. S. (1986). Writing research and the writer. American Psychologist, 41(10), 1106-1113. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.10.1106

Leijten, Van Waes, L., Schriver, K., & Hayes, J. R. (2014). Writing in the workplace: Constructing documents using multiple digital sources. Journal of Writing Research, 5(3), 285–337. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2014.05.03.3

Lundstrom, K., Babcock, R. D., & McAlister, K. (2023). Collaboration in writing: Examining the role of experience in successful team writing projects. Journal of Writing Research, 15(1), 89-115. https://doi.org/10.17239/jowr-2023.15.01.05

National Research Council. (2012). Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.https://doi.org/10.17226/13398.

North, S. M. (1987). The making of knowledge in composition: Portrait of an emerging field. Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Murray, Donald M. (1980). Writing as process: How writing finds its own meaning. In Timothy R. Donovan & Ben McClelland (Eds.), Eight approaches to teaching composition (pp. 3–20). National Council of Teachers of English.

Murray, Donald M. (1972). “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product.” The Leaflet, 11-14

Perry, S. K. (1996).  When time stops: How creative writers experience entry into the flow state  (Order No. 9805789). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304288035). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/when-time-stops-how-creative-writers-experience/docview/304288035/se-2

Rohman, D.G., & Wlecke, A. O. (1964). Pre-writing: The construction and application of models for concept formation in writing (Cooperative Research Project No. 2174). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

Rohman, D. G., & Wlecke, A. O. (1975). Pre-writing: The construction and application of models for concept formation in writing (Cooperative Research Project No. 2174). U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Sommers, N. (1980). Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers. College Composition and Communication, 31(4), 378-388. doi: 10.2307/356600

Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style - The DNA of Powerful Writing

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• Research paper

How to Write a Research Paper | A Beginner's Guide

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research.

Research papers are similar to academic essays , but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research. Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original contribution to the debate.

This step-by-step guide takes you through the entire writing process, from understanding your assignment to proofreading your final draft.

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Table of contents

Understand the assignment, choose a research paper topic, conduct preliminary research, develop a thesis statement, create a research paper outline, write a first draft of the research paper, write the introduction, write a compelling body of text, write the conclusion, the second draft, the revision process, research paper checklist, free lecture slides.

Completing a research paper successfully means accomplishing the specific tasks set out for you. Before you start, make sure you thoroughly understanding the assignment task sheet:

• Read it carefully, looking for anything confusing you might need to clarify with your professor.
• Identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.
• Make a bulleted list of the key points, then go back and cross completed items off as you’re writing.

Carefully consider your timeframe and word limit: be realistic, and plan enough time to research, write, and edit.

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There are many ways to generate an idea for a research paper, from brainstorming with pen and paper to talking it through with a fellow student or professor.

You can try free writing, which involves taking a broad topic and writing continuously for two or three minutes to identify absolutely anything relevant that could be interesting.

You can also gain inspiration from other research. The discussion or recommendations sections of research papers often include ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.

Once you have a broad subject area, narrow it down to choose a topic that interests you, m eets the criteria of your assignment, and i s possible to research. Aim for ideas that are both original and specific:

• A paper following the chronology of World War II would not be original or specific enough.
• A paper on the experience of Danish citizens living close to the German border during World War II would be specific and could be original enough.

Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find an issue that you can focus your paper around. Use a variety of sources , including journals, books, and reliable websites, to ensure you do not miss anything glaring.

Do not only verify the ideas you have in mind, but look for sources that contradict your point of view.

• Is there anything people seem to overlook in the sources you research?
• Are there any heated debates you can address?
• Do you have a unique take on your topic?
• Have there been some recent developments that build on the extant research?

In this stage, you might find it helpful to formulate some research questions to help guide you. To write research questions, try to finish the following sentence: “I want to know how/what/why…”

A thesis statement is a statement of your central argument — it establishes the purpose and position of your paper. If you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should also show what evidence and reasoning you’ll use to support that answer.

The thesis statement should be concise, contentious, and coherent. That means it should briefly summarize your argument in a sentence or two, make a claim that requires further evidence or analysis, and make a coherent point that relates to every part of the paper.

You will probably revise and refine the thesis statement as you do more research, but it can serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Every paragraph should aim to support and develop this central claim.

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A research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics, arguments, and evidence you want to include, divided into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like before you start writing.

A structure outline can help make the writing process much more efficient, so it’s worth dedicating some time to create one.

Your first draft won’t be perfect — you can polish later on. Your priorities at this stage are as follows:

• Maintaining forward momentum — write now, perfect later.
• Paying attention to clear organization and logical ordering of paragraphs and sentences, which will help when you come to the second draft.
• Expressing your ideas as clearly as possible, so you know what you were trying to say when you come back to the text.

You do not need to start by writing the introduction. Begin where it feels most natural for you — some prefer to finish the most difficult sections first, while others choose to start with the easiest part. If you created an outline, use it as a map while you work.

Do not delete large sections of text. If you begin to dislike something you have written or find it doesn’t quite fit, move it to a different document, but don’t lose it completely — you never know if it might come in useful later.

Paragraph structure

Paragraphs are the basic building blocks of research papers. Each one should focus on a single claim or idea that helps to establish the overall argument or purpose of the paper.

Example paragraph

George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” has had an enduring impact on thought about the relationship between politics and language. This impact is particularly obvious in light of the various critical review articles that have recently referenced the essay. For example, consider Mark Falcoff’s 2009 article in The National Review Online, “The Perversion of Language; or, Orwell Revisited,” in which he analyzes several common words (“activist,” “civil-rights leader,” “diversity,” and more). Falcoff’s close analysis of the ambiguity built into political language intentionally mirrors Orwell’s own point-by-point analysis of the political language of his day. Even 63 years after its publication, Orwell’s essay is emulated by contemporary thinkers.

Citing sources

It’s also important to keep track of citations at this stage to avoid accidental plagiarism . Each time you use a source, make sure to take note of where the information came from.

You can use our free citation generators to automatically create citations and save your reference list as you go.

APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator

The research paper introduction should address three questions: What, why, and how? After finishing the introduction, the reader should know what the paper is about, why it is worth reading, and how you’ll build your arguments.

What? Be specific about the topic of the paper, introduce the background, and define key terms or concepts.

Why? This is the most important, but also the most difficult, part of the introduction. Try to provide brief answers to the following questions: What new material or insight are you offering? What important issues does your essay help define or answer?

How? To let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper, the introduction should include a “map” of what will be discussed, briefly presenting the key elements of the paper in chronological order.

The major struggle faced by most writers is how to organize the information presented in the paper, which is one reason an outline is so useful. However, remember that the outline is only a guide and, when writing, you can be flexible with the order in which the information and arguments are presented.

One way to stay on track is to use your thesis statement and topic sentences . Check:

• topic sentences against the thesis statement;
• topic sentences against each other, for similarities and logical ordering;
• and each sentence against the topic sentence of that paragraph.

Be aware of paragraphs that seem to cover the same things. If two paragraphs discuss something similar, they must approach that topic in different ways. Aim to create smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

The research paper conclusion is designed to help your reader out of the paper’s argument, giving them a sense of finality.

Trace the course of the paper, emphasizing how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands how you’ve settled the issues raised in the introduction.

You might also discuss the more general consequences of the argument, outline what the paper offers to future students of the topic, and suggest any questions the paper’s argument raises but cannot or does not try to answer.

You should not :

• Offer new arguments or essential information
• Take up any more space than necessary
• Begin with stock phrases that signal you are ending the paper (e.g. “In conclusion”)

There are four main considerations when it comes to the second draft.

• Check how your vision of the paper lines up with the first draft and, more importantly, that your paper still answers the assignment.
• Identify any assumptions that might require (more substantial) justification, keeping your reader’s perspective foremost in mind. Remove these points if you cannot substantiate them further.
• Be open to rearranging your ideas. Check whether any sections feel out of place and whether your ideas could be better organized.
• If you find that old ideas do not fit as well as you anticipated, you should cut them out or condense them. You might also find that new and well-suited ideas occurred to you during the writing of the first draft — now is the time to make them part of the paper.

The goal during the revision and proofreading process is to ensure you have completed all the necessary tasks and that the paper is as well-articulated as possible. You can speed up the proofreading process by using the AI proofreader .

Global concerns

• Confirm that your paper completes every task specified in your assignment sheet.
• Check for logical organization and flow of paragraphs.
• Check paragraphs against the introduction and thesis statement.

Fine-grained details

Check the content of each paragraph, making sure that:

• each sentence helps support the topic sentence.
• no unnecessary or irrelevant information is present.
• all technical terms your audience might not know are identified.

Next, think about sentence structure , grammatical errors, and formatting . Check that you have correctly used transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas. Look for typos, cut unnecessary words, and check for consistency in aspects such as heading formatting and spellings .

Finally, you need to make sure your paper is correctly formatted according to the rules of the citation style you are using. For example, you might need to include an MLA heading  or create an APA title page .

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Checklist: Research paper

I have followed all instructions in the assignment sheet.

My introduction presents my topic in an engaging way and provides necessary background information.

My introduction presents a clear, focused research problem and/or thesis statement .

My paper is logically organized using paragraphs and (if relevant) section headings .

Each paragraph is clearly focused on one central idea, expressed in a clear topic sentence .

Each paragraph is relevant to my research problem or thesis statement.

I have used appropriate transitions  to clarify the connections between sections, paragraphs, and sentences.

My conclusion provides a concise answer to the research question or emphasizes how the thesis has been supported.

My conclusion shows how my research has contributed to knowledge or understanding of my topic.

My conclusion does not present any new points or information essential to my argument.

I have provided an in-text citation every time I refer to ideas or information from a source.

I have included a reference list at the end of my paper, consistently formatted according to a specific citation style .

I have thoroughly revised my paper and addressed any feedback from my professor or supervisor.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (page numbers, headers, spacing, etc.).

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Basic Steps in the Research Process

The following steps outline a simple and effective strategy for writing a research paper. Depending on your familiarity with the topic and the challenges you encounter along the way, you may need to rearrange these steps.

Step 1: Identify and develop your topic

Selecting a topic can be the most challenging part of a research assignment. Since this is the very first step in writing a paper, it is vital that it be done correctly. Here are some tips for selecting a topic:

• Select a topic within the parameters set by the assignment. Many times your instructor will give you clear guidelines as to what you can and cannot write about. Failure to work within these guidelines may result in your proposed paper being deemed unacceptable by your instructor.
• Select a topic of personal interest to you and learn more about it. The research for and writing of a paper will be more enjoyable if you are writing about something that you find interesting.
• Select a topic for which you can find a manageable amount of information. Do a preliminary search of information sources to determine whether existing sources will meet your needs. If you find too much information, you may need to narrow your topic; if you find too little, you may need to broaden your topic.
• Be original. Your instructor reads hundreds of research papers every year, and many of them are on the same topics (topics in the news at the time, controversial issues, subjects for which there is ample and easily accessed information). Stand out from your classmates by selecting an interesting and off-the-beaten-path topic.
• Still can't come up with a topic to write about? See your instructor for advice.

Once you have identified your topic, it may help to state it as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about the epidemic of obesity in the American population, you might pose the question "What are the causes of obesity in America ?" By posing your subject as a question you can more easily identify the main concepts or keywords to be used in your research.

Step 2 : Do a preliminary search for information

Before beginning your research in earnest, do a preliminary search to determine whether there is enough information out there for your needs and to set the context of your research. Look up your keywords in the appropriate titles in the library's Reference collection (such as encyclopedias and dictionaries) and in other sources such as our catalog of books, periodical databases, and Internet search engines. Additional background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings. You may find it necessary to adjust the focus of your topic in light of the resources available to you.

Step 3: Locate materials

With the direction of your research now clear to you, you can begin locating material on your topic. There are a number of places you can look for information:

If you are looking for books, do a subject search in One Search . A Keyword search can be performed if the subject search doesn't yield enough information. Print or write down the citation information (author, title,etc.) and the location (call number and collection) of the item(s). Note the circulation status. When you locate the book on the shelf, look at the books located nearby; similar items are always shelved in the same area. The Aleph catalog also indexes the library's audio-visual holdings.

Use the library's  electronic periodical databases  to find magazine and newspaper articles. Choose the databases and formats best suited to your particular topic; ask at the librarian at the Reference Desk if you need help figuring out which database best meets your needs. Many of the articles in the databases are available in full-text format.

Use search engines ( Google ,  Yahoo , etc.) and subject directories to locate materials on the Internet. Check the  Internet Resources  section of the NHCC Library web site for helpful subject links.

Step 4: Evaluate your sources

See the  CARS Checklist for Information Quality   for tips on evaluating the authority and quality of the information you have located. Your instructor expects that you will provide credible, truthful, and reliable information and you have every right to expect that the sources you use are providing the same. This step is especially important when using Internet resources, many of which are regarded as less than reliable.

Step 5: Make notes

Consult the resources you have chosen and note the information that will be useful in your paper. Be sure to document all the sources you consult, even if you there is a chance you may not use that particular source. The author, title, publisher, URL, and other information will be needed later when creating a bibliography.

Step 6: Write your paper

Begin by organizing the information you have collected. The next step is the rough draft, wherein you get your ideas on paper in an unfinished fashion. This step will help you organize your ideas and determine the form your final paper will take. After this, you will revise the draft as many times as you think necessary to create a final product to turn in to your instructor.

Step 7: Cite your sources properly

Give credit where credit is due; cite your sources.

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves two purposes: it gives proper credit to the authors of the materials used, and it allows those who are reading your work to duplicate your research and locate the sources that you have listed as references. The  MLA  and the  APA  Styles are two popular citation formats.

Failure to cite your sources properly is plagiarism. Plagiarism is avoidable!

Step 8: Proofread

The final step in the process is to proofread the paper you have created. Read through the text and check for any errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Make sure the sources you used are cited properly. Make sure the message that you want to get across to the reader has been thoroughly stated.

Additional research tips:

• Work from the general to the specific -- find background information first, then use more specific sources.
• Don't forget print sources -- many times print materials are more easily accessed and every bit as helpful as online resources.
• The library has books on the topic of writing research papers at call number area LB 2369.
• If you have questions about the assignment, ask your instructor.
• If you have any questions about finding information in the library, ask the librarian.

Contact Information

Craig larson.

Librarian 763-424-0733 [email protected] Zoom:  myzoom   Available by appointment

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• Research Guides

6 Stages of Research

• 1: Task Definition
• 2: Information Seeking
• 3: Location & Access
• 4: Use of Information
• 5: Synthesis
• 6: Evaluation

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Ask the Right Questions

The scope of an investigation determines how large or small your investigation will be. Determining the scope of an investigation is the critical first step in the research process because you will know how far and how deep to look for answers. This lesson will teach you how to develop a research question as a way to determine the scope of an investigation.

Click the image to open the tutorial in a new window.

Keyword(s):  5W Criteria, Ask the Right Questions, Guided Inquiry, Information Literacy, Library, New Literacies Alliance, Research as Inquiry, Research Question

Purpose of this guide

The purpose of this guide is to walk you through the 6 stages of writing an effective research paper. By breaking the process down into these 6 stages, your paper will be better and you will get more out of the research experience. 

The 6 stages are:

• Task Definition (developing a topic)
• Information Seeking (coming up with a research plan)
• Location & Access (finding good sources)
• Use of Information (Reading, taking notes, and generally making the writing process easier)
• Synthesis (coming up with your own ideas and presenting them well)
• Evaluation (reflection)

This research guide is based on the Big6 Information Literacy model from  https://thebig6.org/

Task Definition

The purpose of task definition is to help you develop an effective topic for your paper. .

Developing a topic is often one of the hardest and most important steps in writing a paper or doing a research project. But here are some tips:

• A research topic is a question, not a statement. You shouldn't already know the answer when you start researching.
• Research something you actually care about or find interesting. It turns the research process from a chore into something enjoyable and whoever reads your work can tell the difference. 
• Read the assignment before and after you think you have come up with your topic to make sure you are answering the prompt. 

Steps to Developing a Topic

• Assignment Requirements
• General Idea
• Background Research
• Ask Questions
• Topic Question

Read your assignment and note any requirements.

• Is there a required page length?
• How many sources do you need?
• Does the paper have to be in a specific format like APA?
• Are there any listed goals for the topic, such as synthesizing different opinions, or applying a theory to a real-life example?

Formulate a general idea.

• Look at your syllabus or course schedule for broad topic ideas.
• Think about reading assignments or class lectures that you found interesting.
• Talk with your professor or a librarian. 
• Check out social media and see what has been trending that is related to your course. 
• Think about ideas from popular videos, TV shows, and movies.
• Read The New York Times  (FHSU students have free access through the Library)
• Watch NBC Learn (FHSU students have free access through the Library)
• Search your library for relevant journals and publications related to your course and browse them for ideas
• Browse online discussion forums, news, and blogs for professional organizations for hot topics

Do some background research on your general idea.

• You have access to reference materials through the Library for background research.
• See what your course notes and textbook say about the subject.
• Google it. 

Reference e-books on a wide range of topics. Sources include dictionaries, encyclopedias, key concepts, key thinkers, handbooks, atlases, and more. Search by keyword or browse titles by topic.

Over 1200 cross-searchable reference e-books on a wide variety of subjects.

Mind map it.

A mind map is an effective way of organizing your thoughts and generating new questions as you learn about your topic. 

• Video  on how to do a mind map. 
• Coggle Free mind mapping software that is great for beginners and easy to use.
• MindMup Mindmup is a free, easy to use online software that allows you to publish and share your mind maps with others.

Ask Questions to focus on what interests you.

Who?   What?   When?   Where?   Why?

We can focus our ideas by brainstorming what interests us when asking who, what, when where, and why:

Research Question:  Does flexible seating in an elementary classroom improve student focus?

Write out your topic question & reread the assignment criteria.

• Can you answer your question well in the number of pages required? 
• Does your topic still meet the requirements of the paper? Ex: is the question still about the sociology of gender studies and women?
• Is the topic too narrow to find research? 

Developing a Topic Tutorial

The following tutorial from Forsyth Library will walk you through the process of defining your topic. 

• Next: 2: Information Seeking >>
• Last Updated: May 15, 2024 2:43 PM
• URL: https://fhsuguides.fhsu.edu/6stages

Writing a Research Paper

This page lists some of the stages involved in writing a library-based research paper.

Although this list suggests that there is a simple, linear process to writing such a paper, the actual process of writing a research paper is often a messy and recursive one, so please use this outline as a flexible guide.

Discovering, Narrowing, and Focusing a Researchable Topic

• Try to find a topic that truly interests you
• Try writing your way to a topic
• Talk with your course instructor and classmates about your topic
• Pose your topic as a question to be answered or a problem to be solved

Finding, Selecting, and Reading Sources

You will need to look at the following types of sources:

• library catalog, periodical indexes, bibliographies, suggestions from your instructor
• primary vs. secondary sources
• journals, books, other documents

Grouping, Sequencing, and Documenting Information

The following systems will help keep you organized:

• a system for noting sources on bibliography cards
• a system for organizing material according to its relative importance
• a system for taking notes

Writing an Outline and a Prospectus for Yourself

Consider the following questions:

• What is the topic?
• Why is it significant?
• What background material is relevant?
• What is my thesis or purpose statement?
• What organizational plan will best support my purpose?

Writing the Introduction

In the introduction you will need to do the following things:

• present relevant background or contextual material
• define terms or concepts when necessary
• explain the focus of the paper and your specific purpose
• reveal your plan of organization

Writing the Body

• Use your outline and prospectus as flexible guides
• Build your essay around points you want to make (i.e., don’t let your sources organize your paper)
• Integrate your sources into your discussion
• Summarize, analyze, explain, and evaluate published work rather than merely reporting it
• Move up and down the “ladder of abstraction” from generalization to varying levels of detail back to generalization

Writing the Conclusion

• If the argument or point of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize the argument for your reader.
• If prior to your conclusion you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the end of your paper to add your points up, to explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction.
• Perhaps suggest what about this topic needs further research.

Revising the Final Draft

• Check overall organization : logical flow of introduction, coherence and depth of discussion in body, effectiveness of conclusion.
• Paragraph level concerns : topic sentences, sequence of ideas within paragraphs, use of details to support generalizations, summary sentences where necessary, use of transitions within and between paragraphs.
• Sentence level concerns: sentence structure, word choices, punctuation, spelling.
• Documentation: consistent use of one system, citation of all material not considered common knowledge, appropriate use of endnotes or footnotes, accuracy of list of works cited.

Academic and Professional Writing

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The Process of Writing a Research Paper

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Planning the Research Paper

The goal of a research paper is to bring together different views, evidence, and facts about a topic from books, articles, and interviews, then interpret the information into your writing. It’s about a relationship between you, other writers, and your teacher/audience.

A research paper will show two things: what you know or learned about a certain topic, and what other people know about the same topic. Often you make a judgment, or just explain complex ideas to the reader. The length of the research paper depends on your teacher’s guidelines. It’s always a good idea to keep your teacher in mind while writing your paper because the teacher is your audience.

The Process There are three stages for doing a research paper. These stages are:

While most people start with prewriting, the three stages of the writing process overlap. Writing is not the kind of process where you have to finish step one before moving on to step two, and so on. Your job is to make your ideas as clear as possible for the reader, and that means you might have to go back and forth between the prewriting, writing and revising stages several times before submitting the paper.

» Prewriting Thinking about a topic

The first thing you should do when starting your research paper is to think of a topic. Try to pick a topic that interests you and your teacher — interesting topics are easier to write about than boring topics! Make sure that your topic is not too hard to research, and that there is enough material on the topic. Talk to as many people as possible about your topic, especially your teacher. You’ll be surprised at the ideas you’ll get from talking about your topic. Be sure to always discuss potential topics with your teacher.

Places you can find a topic: newspapers, magazines, television news, the World Wide Web, and even in the index of a textbook!

Narrowing down your topic

As you think about your topic and start reading, you should begin thinking about a possible thesis statement (a sentence or two explaining your opinion about the topic). One technique is to ask yourself one important question about your topic, and as you find your answer, the thesis can develop from that. Some other techniques you may use to narrow your topic are: jot lists; preliminary outlines; listing possible thesis statements; listing questions; and/or making a concept map. It also may be helpful to have a friend ask you questions about your topic.

For help on developing your thesis statement, see the English Center Guide to Developing a Thesis Statement .

Discovery/Reading about your topic

You need to find information that helps you support your thesis. There are different places you can find this information: books, articles, people (interviews), and the internet.

As you gather the information or ideas you need, you need to make sure that you take notes and write down where and who you got the information from. This is called “citing your sources.” If you write your paper using information from other writers and do not cite the sources, you are committing plagiarism . If you plagiarize, you can get an “F” on your paper, fail the course, or even get kicked out of school.

CITING SOURCES

There are three major different formats for citing sources. They are: the Modern Language Association (MLA) , the American Psychology Association (APA) , and the Chicago Turabian style . Always ask your teacher which format to use. For more information on these styles, see our other handouts!

ORGANIZING INFORMATION

After you’ve thought, read, and taken notes on your topic, you may want to revise your thesis because a good thesis will help you develop a plan for writing your paper. One way you can do this is to brainstorm — think about everything you know about your topic, and put it down on paper. Once you have it all written down, you can look it over and decide if you should change your thesis statement or not.

If you already developed a preliminary map or outline, now is the time to go back and revise it. If you haven’t developed a map or outline yet, now is the time to do it. The outline or concept map should help you organize how you want to present information to your readers. The clearer your outline or map, the easier it will be for you to write the paper. Be sure that each part of your outline supports your thesis. If it does not, you may want to change/revise your thesis statement again.

» Writing a research paper follows a standard compositional (essay) format. It has a title, introduction, body and conclusion. Some people like to start their research papers with a title and introduction, while others wait until they’ve already started the body of the paper before developing a title and introduction. See this link for more information about writing introductions and conclusions .

Some techniques that may help you with writing your paper are:

• start by writing your thesis statement
• use a free writing technique (What I mean is…)
• follow your outline or map
• pretend you are writing a letter to a friend, and tell them what you know about your topic
• follow your topic notecards

If you’re having difficulties thinking of what to write about next, you can look back at your notes that you have from when you were brainstorming for your topic.

» Revising The last (but not least) step is revising. When you are revising, look over your paper and make changes in weak areas. The different areas to look for mistakes include: content– too much detail, or too little detail; organization/structure (which is the order in which you write information about your topic); grammar; punctuation; capitalization; word choice; and citations.

It probably is best if you focus on the “big picture” first. The “big picture” means the organization (paragraph order), and content (ideas and points) of the paper. It also might help to go through your paper paragraph by paragraph and see if the main idea of each paragraph relates to the thesis. Be sure to keep an eye out for any repeated information (one of the most common mistakes made by students is having two or more paragraphs with the same information). Often good writers combine several paragraphs into one so they do not repeat information.

Revision Guidelines

• The audience understands your paper.
• The sentences are clear and complete.
• All paragraphs relate to the thesis.
• Each paragraph explains its purpose clearly.
• You do not repeat large blocks of information in two or more different paragraphs.
• The information in your paper is accurate.
• A friend or classmate has read through your paper and offered suggestions.

After you are satisfied with the content and structure of the paper, you then can focus on common errors like grammar, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, typos, and word choice.

Proofreading Guidelines

• Subjects and verbs agree.
• Verb tenses are consistent.
• Pronouns agree with the subjects they substitute.
• Word choices are clear.
• Capitalization is correct.
• Spelling is correct.
• Punctuation is correct.
• References are cited properly.

For more information on proofreading, see the English Center Punctuation and Grammar Review .

After writing the paper, it might help if you put it aside and do not look at it for a day or two. When you look at your paper again, you will see it with new eyes and notice mistakes you didn’t before. It’s a really good idea to ask someone else to read your paper before you submit it to your teacher. Good writers often get feedback and revise their paper several times before submitting it to the teacher.

Source: “Process of Writing a Research Paper,” by Ellen Beck and Rachel Mingo with contributions from Jules Nelson Hill and Vivion Smith, is based on the previous version by Dawn Taylor, Sharon Quintero, Robert Rich, Robert McDonald, and Katherine Eckhart.

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11.2 Steps in Developing a Research Proposal

Learning objectives.

• Identify the steps in developing a research proposal.
• Choose a topic and formulate a research question and working thesis.
• Develop a research proposal.

Writing a good research paper takes time, thought, and effort. Although this assignment is challenging, it is manageable. Focusing on one step at a time will help you develop a thoughtful, informative, well-supported research paper.

Your first step is to choose a topic and then to develop research questions, a working thesis, and a written research proposal. Set aside adequate time for this part of the process. Fully exploring ideas will help you build a solid foundation for your paper.

Choosing a Topic

When you choose a topic for a research paper, you are making a major commitment. Your choice will help determine whether you enjoy the lengthy process of research and writing—and whether your final paper fulfills the assignment requirements. If you choose your topic hastily, you may later find it difficult to work with your topic. By taking your time and choosing carefully, you can ensure that this assignment is not only challenging but also rewarding.

Writers understand the importance of choosing a topic that fulfills the assignment requirements and fits the assignment’s purpose and audience. (For more information about purpose and audience, see Chapter 6 “Writing Paragraphs: Separating Ideas and Shaping Content” .) Choosing a topic that interests you is also crucial. You instructor may provide a list of suggested topics or ask that you develop a topic on your own. In either case, try to identify topics that genuinely interest you.

After identifying potential topic ideas, you will need to evaluate your ideas and choose one topic to pursue. Will you be able to find enough information about the topic? Can you develop a paper about this topic that presents and supports your original ideas? Is the topic too broad or too narrow for the scope of the assignment? If so, can you modify it so it is more manageable? You will ask these questions during this preliminary phase of the research process.

Identifying Potential Topics

Sometimes, your instructor may provide a list of suggested topics. If so, you may benefit from identifying several possibilities before committing to one idea. It is important to know how to narrow down your ideas into a concise, manageable thesis. You may also use the list as a starting point to help you identify additional, related topics. Discussing your ideas with your instructor will help ensure that you choose a manageable topic that fits the requirements of the assignment.

In this chapter, you will follow a writer named Jorge, who is studying health care administration, as he prepares a research paper. You will also plan, research, and draft your own research paper.

Jorge was assigned to write a research paper on health and the media for an introductory course in health care. Although a general topic was selected for the students, Jorge had to decide which specific issues interested him. He brainstormed a list of possibilities.

If you are writing a research paper for a specialized course, look back through your notes and course activities. Identify reading assignments and class discussions that especially engaged you. Doing so can help you identify topics to pursue.

• Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) in the news
• Sexual education programs
• Hollywood and eating disorders
• Americans’ access to public health information
• Media portrayal of health care reform bill
• Depictions of drugs on television
• The effect of the Internet on mental health
• Popularized diets (such as low-carbohydrate diets)
• Fear of pandemics (bird flu, HINI, SARS)
• Electronic entertainment and obesity
• Advertisements for prescription drugs
• Public education and disease prevention

Set a timer for five minutes. Use brainstorming or idea mapping to create a list of topics you would be interested in researching for a paper about the influence of the Internet on social networking. Do you closely follow the media coverage of a particular website, such as Twitter? Would you like to learn more about a certain industry, such as online dating? Which social networking sites do you and your friends use? List as many ideas related to this topic as you can.

Narrowing Your Topic

Once you have a list of potential topics, you will need to choose one as the focus of your essay. You will also need to narrow your topic. Most writers find that the topics they listed during brainstorming or idea mapping are broad—too broad for the scope of the assignment. Working with an overly broad topic, such as sexual education programs or popularized diets, can be frustrating and overwhelming. Each topic has so many facets that it would be impossible to cover them all in a college research paper. However, more specific choices, such as the pros and cons of sexual education in kids’ television programs or the physical effects of the South Beach diet, are specific enough to write about without being too narrow to sustain an entire research paper.

A good research paper provides focused, in-depth information and analysis. If your topic is too broad, you will find it difficult to do more than skim the surface when you research it and write about it. Narrowing your focus is essential to making your topic manageable. To narrow your focus, explore your topic in writing, conduct preliminary research, and discuss both the topic and the research with others.

Exploring Your Topic in Writing

“How am I supposed to narrow my topic when I haven’t even begun researching yet?” In fact, you may already know more than you realize. Review your list and identify your top two or three topics. Set aside some time to explore each one through freewriting. (For more information about freewriting, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .) Simply taking the time to focus on your topic may yield fresh angles.

Jorge knew that he was especially interested in the topic of diet fads, but he also knew that it was much too broad for his assignment. He used freewriting to explore his thoughts so he could narrow his topic. Read Jorge’s ideas.

Conducting Preliminary Research

Another way writers may focus a topic is to conduct preliminary research . Like freewriting, exploratory reading can help you identify interesting angles. Surfing the web and browsing through newspaper and magazine articles are good ways to start. Find out what people are saying about your topic on blogs and online discussion groups. Discussing your topic with others can also inspire you. Talk about your ideas with your classmates, your friends, or your instructor.

Jorge’s freewriting exercise helped him realize that the assigned topic of health and the media intersected with a few of his interests—diet, nutrition, and obesity. Preliminary online research and discussions with his classmates strengthened his impression that many people are confused or misled by media coverage of these subjects.

Jorge decided to focus his paper on a topic that had garnered a great deal of media attention—low-carbohydrate diets. He wanted to find out whether low-carbohydrate diets were as effective as their proponents claimed.

Writing at Work

At work, you may need to research a topic quickly to find general information. This information can be useful in understanding trends in a given industry or generating competition. For example, a company may research a competitor’s prices and use the information when pricing their own product. You may find it useful to skim a variety of reliable sources and take notes on your findings.

The reliability of online sources varies greatly. In this exploratory phase of your research, you do not need to evaluate sources as closely as you will later. However, use common sense as you refine your paper topic. If you read a fascinating blog comment that gives you a new idea for your paper, be sure to check out other, more reliable sources as well to make sure the idea is worth pursuing.

Review the list of topics you created in Note 11.18 “Exercise 1” and identify two or three topics you would like to explore further. For each of these topics, spend five to ten minutes writing about the topic without stopping. Then review your writing to identify possible areas of focus.

Set aside time to conduct preliminary research about your potential topics. Then choose a topic to pursue for your research paper.

Collaboration

Please share your topic list with a classmate. Select one or two topics on his or her list that you would like to learn more about and return it to him or her. Discuss why you found the topics interesting, and learn which of your topics your classmate selected and why.

A Plan for Research

Your freewriting and preliminary research have helped you choose a focused, manageable topic for your research paper. To work with your topic successfully, you will need to determine what exactly you want to learn about it—and later, what you want to say about it. Before you begin conducting in-depth research, you will further define your focus by developing a research question , a working thesis, and a research proposal.

Formulating a Research Question

In forming a research question, you are setting a goal for your research. Your main research question should be substantial enough to form the guiding principle of your paper—but focused enough to guide your research. A strong research question requires you not only to find information but also to put together different pieces of information, interpret and analyze them, and figure out what you think. As you consider potential research questions, ask yourself whether they would be too hard or too easy to answer.

To determine your research question, review the freewriting you completed earlier. Skim through books, articles, and websites and list the questions you have. (You may wish to use the 5WH strategy to help you formulate questions. See Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” for more information about 5WH questions.) Include simple, factual questions and more complex questions that would require analysis and interpretation. Determine your main question—the primary focus of your paper—and several subquestions that you will need to research to answer your main question.

Here are the research questions Jorge will use to focus his research. Notice that his main research question has no obvious, straightforward answer. Jorge will need to research his subquestions, which address narrower topics, to answer his main question.

Using the topic you selected in Note 11.24 “Exercise 2” , write your main research question and at least four to five subquestions. Check that your main research question is appropriately complex for your assignment.

Constructing a Working ThesIs

A working thesis concisely states a writer’s initial answer to the main research question. It does not merely state a fact or present a subjective opinion. Instead, it expresses a debatable idea or claim that you hope to prove through additional research. Your working thesis is called a working thesis for a reason—it is subject to change. As you learn more about your topic, you may change your thinking in light of your research findings. Let your working thesis serve as a guide to your research, but do not be afraid to modify it based on what you learn.

Jorge began his research with a strong point of view based on his preliminary writing and research. Read his working thesis statement, which presents the point he will argue. Notice how it states Jorge’s tentative answer to his research question.

One way to determine your working thesis is to consider how you would complete sentences such as I believe or My opinion is . However, keep in mind that academic writing generally does not use first-person pronouns. These statements are useful starting points, but formal research papers use an objective voice.

Write a working thesis statement that presents your preliminary answer to the research question you wrote in Note 11.27 “Exercise 3” . Check that your working thesis statement presents an idea or claim that could be supported or refuted by evidence from research.

Creating a Research Proposal

A research proposal is a brief document—no more than one typed page—that summarizes the preliminary work you have completed. Your purpose in writing it is to formalize your plan for research and present it to your instructor for feedback. In your research proposal, you will present your main research question, related subquestions, and working thesis. You will also briefly discuss the value of researching this topic and indicate how you plan to gather information.

When Jorge began drafting his research proposal, he realized that he had already created most of the pieces he needed. However, he knew he also had to explain how his research would be relevant to other future health care professionals. In addition, he wanted to form a general plan for doing the research and identifying potentially useful sources. Read Jorge’s research proposal.

Before you begin a new project at work, you may have to develop a project summary document that states the purpose of the project, explains why it would be a wise use of company resources, and briefly outlines the steps involved in completing the project. This type of document is similar to a research proposal. Both documents define and limit a project, explain its value, discuss how to proceed, and identify what resources you will use.

Writing Your Own Research Proposal

Now you may write your own research proposal, if you have not done so already. Follow the guidelines provided in this lesson.

Key Takeaways

• Developing a research proposal involves the following preliminary steps: identifying potential ideas, choosing ideas to explore further, choosing and narrowing a topic, formulating a research question, and developing a working thesis.
• A good topic for a research paper interests the writer and fulfills the requirements of the assignment.
• Defining and narrowing a topic helps writers conduct focused, in-depth research.
• Writers conduct preliminary research to identify possible topics and research questions and to develop a working thesis.
• A good research question interests readers, is neither too broad nor too narrow, and has no obvious answer.
• A good working thesis expresses a debatable idea or claim that can be supported with evidence from research.
• Writers create a research proposal to present their topic, main research question, subquestions, and working thesis to an instructor for approval or feedback.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Steps in Writing a Research Paper

• Critical Reading and Writing
• Punctuation
• Writing Exercises
• ELL/ESL Resources

A series of steps, starting with developing a research question and working thesis, will lead you through writing a research paper. As you move through these steps and actually create the research paper, you may find that you can't move through all of them in chronological order, and that's o.k. In fact, you may change the order of the steps depending on the subject, your knowledge of the subject, and your sources. For example, sometimes you need to do just a bit of background research and reading before you can develop a research question. Sometimes you need to go back and find additional sources to corroborate your viewpoint. The research writing steps that we offer represent a general, ideal, movement through the research writing process. In reality, writers often repeat or circle back as needed.

Hey, wait a minute . . . why did we say "ideal?" In our opinion, these steps represent the best way to move through the writing process because they ask you to think and develop a research question before you actually do a lot of research. The one big mess that you can get into, as a student, comes from doing too much unfocused research before identifying your own viewpoint, the one that you will eventually need to support. If you do too much unfocused research first, then the tendency is to try to include all of it in the paper. The result is a hodgepodge of information that's not focused, developed fully, or indicative of your own thoughts. It's also not efficient to do too much research before you really know what you're looking for. Try it our way--develop that research question first--to cut out a lot of research paper mess.

These steps will lead you through writing a research paper:

• One Big Mess...
• Developing a Research Question
• Thesis Characteristics
• Finding Sources
• Evaluating Sources
• Taking Notes
• Working with Quotations
• Writing Summaries & Paraphrases
• Building the Essay Draft
• Documentation Formats
• Revising and Proofreading the Draft

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If you would like assistance with any type of writing assignment, learning coaches are available to assist you. Please contact Academic Support by emailing [email protected].

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Contact us at [email protected] .

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Research Process Steps: What they are + How To Follow

There are various approaches to conducting basic and applied research. This article explains the research process steps you should know. Whether you are doing basic research or applied research, there are many ways of doing it. In some ways, each research study is unique since it is conducted at a different time and place.

Conducting research might be difficult, but there are clear processes to follow. The research process starts with a broad idea for a topic. This article will assist you through the research process steps, helping you focus and develop your topic.

Research Process Steps

The research process consists of a series of systematic procedures that a researcher must go through in order to generate knowledge that will be considered valuable by the project and focus on the relevant topic.

To conduct effective research, you must understand the research process steps and follow them. Here are a few steps in the research process to make it easier for you:

Step 1: Identify the Problem

Finding an issue or formulating a research question is the first step. A well-defined research problem will guide the researcher through all stages of the research process, from setting objectives to choosing a technique. There are a number of approaches to get insight into a topic and gain a better understanding of it. Such as:

• A preliminary survey
• Case studies
• Interviews with a small group of people
• Observational survey

Step 2: Evaluate the Literature

A thorough examination of the relevant studies is essential to the research process . It enables the researcher to identify the precise aspects of the problem. Once a problem has been found, the investigator or researcher needs to find out more about it.

This stage gives problem-zone background. It teaches the investigator about previous research, how they were conducted, and its conclusions. The researcher can build consistency between his work and others through a literature review. Such a review exposes the researcher to a more significant body of knowledge and helps him follow the research process efficiently.

Step 3: Create Hypotheses

Formulating an original hypothesis is the next logical step after narrowing down the research topic and defining it. A belief solves logical relationships between variables. In order to establish a hypothesis, a researcher must have a certain amount of expertise in the field. 

It is important for researchers to keep in mind while formulating a hypothesis that it must be based on the research topic. Researchers are able to concentrate their efforts and stay committed to their objectives when they develop theories to guide their work.

Step 4: The Research Design

Research design is the plan for achieving objectives and answering research questions. It outlines how to get the relevant information. Its goal is to design research to test hypotheses, address the research questions, and provide decision-making insights.

The research design aims to minimize the time, money, and effort required to acquire meaningful evidence. This plan fits into four categories:

• Exploration and Surveys
• Data Analysis
• Observation

Step 5: Describe Population

Research projects usually look at a specific group of people, facilities, or how technology is used in the business. In research, the term population refers to this study group. The research topic and purpose help determine the study group.

Suppose a researcher wishes to investigate a certain group of people in the community. In that case, the research could target a specific age group, males or females, a geographic location, or an ethnic group. A final step in a study’s design is to specify its sample or population so that the results may be generalized.

Step 6: Data Collection

Data collection is important in obtaining the knowledge or information required to answer the research issue. Every research collected data, either from the literature or the people being studied. Data must be collected from the two categories of researchers. These sources may provide primary data.

• Questionnaire

Secondary data categories are:

• Literature survey
• Official, unofficial reports
• An approach based on library resources

Step 7: Data Analysis

During research design, the researcher plans data analysis. After collecting data, the researcher analyzes it. The data is examined based on the approach in this step. The research findings are reviewed and reported.

Data analysis involves a number of closely related stages, such as setting up categories, applying these categories to raw data through coding and tabulation, and then drawing statistical conclusions. The researcher can examine the acquired data using a variety of statistical methods.

Step 8: The Report-writing

After completing these steps, the researcher must prepare a report detailing his findings. The report must be carefully composed with the following in mind:

• The Layout: On the first page, the title, date, acknowledgments, and preface should be on the report. A table of contents should be followed by a list of tables, graphs, and charts if any.
• Introduction: It should state the research’s purpose and methods. This section should include the study’s scope and limits.
• Summary of Findings: A non-technical summary of findings and recommendations will follow the introduction. The findings should be summarized if they’re lengthy.
• Principal Report: The main body of the report should make sense and be broken up into sections that are easy to understand.
• Conclusion: The researcher should restate his findings at the end of the main text. It’s the final result.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

The research process involves several steps that make it easy to complete the research successfully. The steps in the research process described above depend on each other, and the order must be kept. So, if we want to do a research project, we should follow the research process steps.

QuestionPro’s enterprise-grade research platform can collect survey and qualitative observation data. The tool’s nature allows for data processing and essential decisions. The platform lets you store and process data. Start immediately!

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Home » Research Process – Steps, Examples and Tips

Research Process – Steps, Examples and Tips

Table of Contents

Research Process

Definition:

Research Process is a systematic and structured approach that involves the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or information to answer a specific research question or solve a particular problem.

Research Process Steps

Research Process Steps are as follows:

Identify the Research Question or Problem

This is the first step in the research process. It involves identifying a problem or question that needs to be addressed. The research question should be specific, relevant, and focused on a particular area of interest.

Conduct a Literature Review

Once the research question has been identified, the next step is to conduct a literature review. This involves reviewing existing research and literature on the topic to identify any gaps in knowledge or areas where further research is needed. A literature review helps to provide a theoretical framework for the research and also ensures that the research is not duplicating previous work.

Formulate a Hypothesis or Research Objectives

Based on the research question and literature review, the researcher can formulate a hypothesis or research objectives. A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested to determine its validity, while research objectives are specific goals that the researcher aims to achieve through the research.

Design a Research Plan and Methodology

This step involves designing a research plan and methodology that will enable the researcher to collect and analyze data to test the hypothesis or achieve the research objectives. The research plan should include details on the sample size, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques that will be used.

Collect and Analyze Data

This step involves collecting and analyzing data according to the research plan and methodology. Data can be collected through various methods, including surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments. The data analysis process involves cleaning and organizing the data, applying statistical and analytical techniques to the data, and interpreting the results.

Interpret the Findings and Draw Conclusions

After analyzing the data, the researcher must interpret the findings and draw conclusions. This involves assessing the validity and reliability of the results and determining whether the hypothesis was supported or not. The researcher must also consider any limitations of the research and discuss the implications of the findings.

Communicate the Results

Finally, the researcher must communicate the results of the research through a research report, presentation, or publication. The research report should provide a detailed account of the research process, including the research question, literature review, research methodology, data analysis, findings, and conclusions. The report should also include recommendations for further research in the area.

Review and Revise

The research process is an iterative one, and it is important to review and revise the research plan and methodology as necessary. Researchers should assess the quality of their data and methods, reflect on their findings, and consider areas for improvement.

Ethical Considerations

Throughout the research process, ethical considerations must be taken into account. This includes ensuring that the research design protects the welfare of research participants, obtaining informed consent, maintaining confidentiality and privacy, and avoiding any potential harm to participants or their communities.

Dissemination and Application

The final step in the research process is to disseminate the findings and apply the research to real-world settings. Researchers can share their findings through academic publications, presentations at conferences, or media coverage. The research can be used to inform policy decisions, develop interventions, or improve practice in the relevant field.

Research Process Example

Following is a Research Process Example:

Research Question : What are the effects of a plant-based diet on athletic performance in high school athletes?

Step 1: Background Research Conduct a literature review to gain a better understanding of the existing research on the topic. Read academic articles and research studies related to plant-based diets, athletic performance, and high school athletes.

Step 2: Develop a Hypothesis Based on the literature review, develop a hypothesis that a plant-based diet positively affects athletic performance in high school athletes.

Step 3: Design the Study Design a study to test the hypothesis. Decide on the study population, sample size, and research methods. For this study, you could use a survey to collect data on dietary habits and athletic performance from a sample of high school athletes who follow a plant-based diet and a sample of high school athletes who do not follow a plant-based diet.

Step 4: Collect Data Distribute the survey to the selected sample and collect data on dietary habits and athletic performance.

Step 5: Analyze Data Use statistical analysis to compare the data from the two samples and determine if there is a significant difference in athletic performance between those who follow a plant-based diet and those who do not.

Step 6 : Interpret Results Interpret the results of the analysis in the context of the research question and hypothesis. Discuss any limitations or potential biases in the study design.

Step 7: Draw Conclusions Based on the results, draw conclusions about whether a plant-based diet has a significant effect on athletic performance in high school athletes. If the hypothesis is supported by the data, discuss potential implications and future research directions.

Step 8: Communicate Findings Communicate the findings of the study in a clear and concise manner. Use appropriate language, visuals, and formats to ensure that the findings are understood and valued.

Applications of Research Process

The research process has numerous applications across a wide range of fields and industries. Some examples of applications of the research process include:

• Scientific research: The research process is widely used in scientific research to investigate phenomena in the natural world and develop new theories or technologies. This includes fields such as biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science.
• Social sciences : The research process is commonly used in social sciences to study human behavior, social structures, and institutions. This includes fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, and economics.
• Education: The research process is used in education to study learning processes, curriculum design, and teaching methodologies. This includes research on student achievement, teacher effectiveness, and educational policy.
• Healthcare: The research process is used in healthcare to investigate medical conditions, develop new treatments, and evaluate healthcare interventions. This includes fields such as medicine, nursing, and public health.
• Business and industry : The research process is used in business and industry to study consumer behavior, market trends, and develop new products or services. This includes market research, product development, and customer satisfaction research.
• Government and policy : The research process is used in government and policy to evaluate the effectiveness of policies and programs, and to inform policy decisions. This includes research on social welfare, crime prevention, and environmental policy.

Purpose of Research Process

The purpose of the research process is to systematically and scientifically investigate a problem or question in order to generate new knowledge or solve a problem. The research process enables researchers to:

• Identify gaps in existing knowledge: By conducting a thorough literature review, researchers can identify gaps in existing knowledge and develop research questions that address these gaps.
• Collect and analyze data : The research process provides a structured approach to collecting and analyzing data. Researchers can use a variety of research methods, including surveys, experiments, and interviews, to collect data that is valid and reliable.
• Test hypotheses : The research process allows researchers to test hypotheses and make evidence-based conclusions. Through the systematic analysis of data, researchers can draw conclusions about the relationships between variables and develop new theories or models.
• Solve problems: The research process can be used to solve practical problems and improve real-world outcomes. For example, researchers can develop interventions to address health or social problems, evaluate the effectiveness of policies or programs, and improve organizational processes.
• Generate new knowledge : The research process is a key way to generate new knowledge and advance understanding in a given field. By conducting rigorous and well-designed research, researchers can make significant contributions to their field and help to shape future research.

Tips for Research Process

Here are some tips for the research process:

• Start with a clear research question : A well-defined research question is the foundation of a successful research project. It should be specific, relevant, and achievable within the given time frame and resources.
• Conduct a thorough literature review: A comprehensive literature review will help you to identify gaps in existing knowledge, build on previous research, and avoid duplication. It will also provide a theoretical framework for your research.
• Choose appropriate research methods: Select research methods that are appropriate for your research question, objectives, and sample size. Ensure that your methods are valid, reliable, and ethical.
• Be organized and systematic: Keep detailed notes throughout the research process, including your research plan, methodology, data collection, and analysis. This will help you to stay organized and ensure that you don’t miss any important details.
• Analyze data rigorously: Use appropriate statistical and analytical techniques to analyze your data. Ensure that your analysis is valid, reliable, and transparent.
• I nterpret results carefully : Interpret your results in the context of your research question and objectives. Consider any limitations or potential biases in your research design, and be cautious in drawing conclusions.
• Communicate effectively: Communicate your research findings clearly and effectively to your target audience. Use appropriate language, visuals, and formats to ensure that your findings are understood and valued.
• Collaborate and seek feedback : Collaborate with other researchers, experts, or stakeholders in your field. Seek feedback on your research design, methods, and findings to ensure that they are relevant, meaningful, and impactful.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Writing based on Texts

Research writing: definition & process, what is research writing.

The research writing process mirrors the general movement of the writing process—prewriting, writing, revising—since any research essay is primarily “essay” first. This is a key concept to remember. Research adds support to your own analysis and insights that you offer in your thesis, topic sentences, and units of support. Research should not supplant or take over your own thoughts; it simply adds validity and credibility to your argument.

With this key concept in mind—that any research essay is an “essay” first and foremost—know that research writing adds some additional stages to the writing process, related to developing a research question and finding, evaluating, and working with sources.

The Research Writing Trap

Research Writing Process

So, how might the research writing process unfold? One important difference between the writing and research writing processes can be the addition of a specific pre-thesis step: developing a research question. A research question provides some focus so that you are not indiscriminately researching a broad topic. You may start by prewriting to develop a research question. Or you may start by reading overview sources to get a sense of the scope of a topic  and to help narrow that topic in order to develop a research question. No matter how you start the research writing process, you’ll move back and forth among prewriting, researching, and writing during the process. You’ll revisit, repeat, and/or reorder stages in the process as needed.

The research writing process includes the following stages:

• develop a research question
• complete preliminary research using overview sources to either help develop, hone, or answer your research question
• complete fuller research
• answer your research question by developing a thesis based on your own thoughts and research
• develop topic sentences and units of support to validate the assertion in your own thesis
• draft and revise your research essay
• document your sources

Look at a visual representation of the Research Writing Process .

The two videos below clearly discuss research writing processes. Both comment on the importance of planning before you actually start to write a draft, a concept that this text discusses more fully in the page on Synthesizing Sources. And both offer some suggestions about the time needed to move through the research writing process (note that the first video is geared toward students pursuing a master’s degree, so the essay length and thus the timing may be a bit more than what you will experience).

Developing a Research Question – Initiating the Research Writing Process

Developing a good, solid research question is key to research writing. Sometimes a research question occurs naturally, but often it takes work; it can be one of the hardest parts of writing a strong research essay. Creating a research question doesn’t happen all at once. You may move back and forth between prewriting and preliminary research, skimming overview sources to get a sense of how you might narrow a topic, whether the topic is researchable, and what types of supporting sources might exist. Research question development is a gradual process that usually happens in stages: choosing a topic, narrowing a topic, and then progressively asking questions that create more of a focus, ending with a working research question.

Choosing a Topic

If you are able to choose your topic, find a topic that interests you. If your topic is assigned, try thinking about an aspect of that topic you find most interesting. You’ll spend a good amount of time working on this essay. Make sure that the topic engages your interest.

Keep in mind that your final topic and research question most likely will not occur to you simply by thinking about it. You’ll usually need to do preliminary research by skimming general overview sources such as websites, books, and/or encyclopedias. You’ll eventually move to more focused research; use any reading of overview sources to find one smaller, intriguing aspect of your topic. A usable, appropriately-narrowed topic and research question usually occurs as the result of skimming, reading, and thinking about what you’ve read.

Narrowing a Topic

This is just what the heading says—you eventually need a manageable topic, one that you can deal with in some depth in an essay. For example, a topic such as the history of the labor movement in the U.S. is too broad for a medium-length essay; you’d need to write a book. Once you have an idea for a topic, brainstorm ways of specifying that topic. For example, you might want to focus on labor initiatives in the 1940s, or you might want to compare and contrast two specific labor negotiation techniques. It’s useful to brainstorm and list multiple ways of narrowing a topic so that, even when you’re doing preliminary research in overview sources, you have some focus.

Moving from Topic to Research Question

No matter what your topic is, you’ll most likely narrow further to a research question by asking increasingly focused questions about your topic, and by evaluating the language in each question to determine if it can be more specific and thus more narrow. As you can see in the chart below, you can start with a topic, narrow the topic, and then ask increasingly focused questions to develop a viable research question.

The video below explains how to create a viable research question.

Issue-Based Research Question

Many research writing assignments will ask for your insights on an issue. An issue is “a debatable question that lends itself to an analytical response providing reasons why,” as opposed to a topic or question that lends itself to a purely descriptive response.

For example:

issue = Should the U.S. public school system require competence in a foreign language as one of the requirements for a high school diploma?

vs. topic = foreign language teaching

vs. question that lends itself to a descriptive response = What are the steps in foreign language acquisition at certain ages?

You may be able to answer your debatable issue question (in other words, you may be able to create a working thesis) before you search for evidence in library sources, or you may need to search for evidence first in order to refine and specify your research question, before you find research that answers the question. Either way is fine; you may use different approaches for different research situations.

Developing a Research Question in Action

Suppose you want to write research essay on some aspect of World War II. The material written on World War II has filled whole libraries, so you obviously won’t be able to complete a research essay on all of WWII in just a few weeks. The first question to ask yourself, to create a topic, is: “What aspect of WWII am I interested in understanding better?”

• Strategies?
• Major characters?
• Specific battles?

Let’s say you want to understand more about WWII weapons. You consult a couple of encyclopedia articles on WWII weapons and discover that the general categories of weapons at that time were tanks, artillery, and firearms. Each of these categories includes several dozen to several hundred specific weapons. Can you cover all of these in one essay? Yes, if you write a sentence on each one. But then you’re not really writing a research essay; you’re writing a list. You need to go deep, not wide. No one, including you, wants to read a paper that treats a great deal of material in a very superficial manner.

You continue to survey general information sources on WWII weapons. You read a little bit on each of the categories listed in the Second-Level Narrowing tab and decide that the one you are most interested in is artillery. OK, but what kind?

• Surface-to-air missiles (SAMS)?
• Machine guns?
• Anti-aircraft guns (Flaks)?

As you continue to do preliminary research, you learn that air defense tactics and the various models of anti-aircraft guns were extremely critical in various battles, so you decide to focus on that. Yet look at the terminology: “critical in various battles.” You won’t be able to write a brief essay on the role of anti-aircraft guns in all battles of WWII. So the next logical step is to pursue more preliminary research (e.g., websites, encyclopedias) to determine some of the major battles of WWII where the use of anti-aircraft guns were critical. You remember hearing something about “the Blitz” of London, so you look that up and decide to focus on the role of anti-aircraft guns in defending London from German planes.

Here are some ideas for your research question:

• How questions:  How were anti-aircraft guns used in the defense of London through the Blitz?
• Why questions:  Why were anti-aircraft guns initially limited in their ability to defend London during the Blitz?
• What questions:  What were the initial and later strategies for deploying anti-aircraft guns during the Blitz of London?

As you continue to work, you might find yourself combining some of these into a single question. For example, “What changes were made in the technology and deployment of anti-aircraft guns during the Blitz that allowed them to be used more effectively as the Blitz wore on?”

Notice that the question above allows you to go deep with a single, limited topic and master some important information in one area of weapons and those weapons used in WWII. By the time you’re finished writing this essay, you’ll be a semi-expert on the Blitz of London and the use of anti-aircraft guns by the British during that period.

Your areas of interest are racism in the U.S., technology in medicine and health care, and independent film-making. After doing some prewriting and preliminary research on each, you decide you want to learn more about racially motivated police violence. You develop the following working questions:

• Are police officers likely to make judgments about citizens based on their race?
• Have police forces instituted policies to avoid racism?
• Who is most vulnerable to police violence?
• Who is responsible for overseeing the police?

You realize that you need to narrow the focus to develop a more viable path of inquiry, eventually ending up with the research question:

• Over the last 30 years, what populations are most likely to experience police violence in the U.S.?

You start to research in order to answer this narrow question. However, after completing more research, you discover that your answers are coming quite readily and consistently: young black men are significantly more vulnerable to become victims of police violence. You realize that you’re not really saying anything new, so you have to tweak your path of inquiry.

You circle back to do more freewriting and research to find sources that disagree with this conclusion or add new layers to the answers you’ve found. You eventually discover that there are a handful of police organizations that have made genuine efforts to confront racism in their practices. These groups are working actively against racial violence. You reorient your research question as follows:

• Have anti-racist police trainings and strategies been effective in reducing individual or institutional racism over the last 30 years?

The following video offers a summary of how to develop a research question, and offers some additional research question characteristics as well as leading into the next step: how to work with a research question.

Moving from Research Question to Working Thesis

Once you have your research question and have done some research, make sure to create a working thesis. Your working thesis needs a topic and an assertion in the angle, the same as a thesis for any essay.

To continue with the same examples from above:

Your working thesis answers your research question.  The elements in the angle are based on specifics that you found during your research.  For example, researching Vietnamese food, you might have found that butter, which was not a traditional element in Vietnamese cuisine, was introduced by the French, as well as baguettes, which now accompany many Vietnamese dishes.

An Alternative Research Writing Process

Although there are elements that stay the same in any writing process, there is no one way to write – you will find the way that works best for you.  The idea is to not jump into research writing, which often results in falling into that research writing trap described above, and/or creating a research essay that’s a broad “report” on a topic instead of a focused argument about an issue.

However, if you are familiar enough with a topic so that you do not need to do much preliminary research in order to create a thesis, you can start the process with a working thesis.  Just be sure that it’s focused and that it has a topic and an assertion in the angle, so that you can find relevant, specific research to back up your argument.

• Research Writing Process/Research Question, includes material adapted from College Writing and Excelsior Online Writing Lab; attributions below. Authored by : Susan Oaks. Project : Introduction to College Reading & Writing. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
• Developing a Research Question. Authored by : Susan Oaks. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-esc-wm-englishcomposition1/chapter/how-to-develop-a-research-question/ . Project : College Writing. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Narrowing and Developing, Narrowing Process, Research Questions - series of three pages. Provided by : Excelsior Cpllege. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/research/narrowing-and-developing/ . Project : Excelsior Online Writing Lab. License : CC BY: Attribution
• image of woman reading a book in a library. Authored by : Engin Akyurt. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-book-read-library-young-2701154/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• image of cheese in a mousetrap. Authored by : Rudy and Peter Skitterians. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/mouse-trap-cheese-device-trap-2846147/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• image of computers and books in a library. Authored by : Michal Jarmoluk. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/library-book-reading-computers-488671/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• video My Step by Step Guide to Writing a Research Paper. Provided by : Marble Jar Channel. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JcgRyJUfZM . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
• video The Research to Writing Process. Provided by : Academic Skills, The University of Melbourne. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewAkojTzutY . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video

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A Getting Started Guide

What is research, stages of the research process, how do i start writing a college paper, annotated bibliographies.

• Books, eBooks, Videos
• Articles and Journals
• Citation Guide

The Research Process

Welcome to The Research Process! Throughout your college career, many of your assignments will involve doing research. You can use this guide to find definitions of key terms related to doing research, learn about the many stages of the research process, and explore resources to help you succeed at each stage.

Before getting started on your own research, it is important to know what research is and why we do it. 

• Research is inquiry : When we research a topic, we are asking questions and investigating that topic to learn more about it.
• Research is continuous : Learning about a topic often requires finding and incorporating new information, which can lead to asking new questions.
• Research is iterative : As we move through the various stages of the research process, we may have to repeat steps we completed earlier.

How to get started with the Research Process

Step 1:  Start by asking yourself some questions:

1. What does the assignment require? Read the assignment guidelines carefully for requirements such as length, formatting (single or double spaced, indentations, etc.) and citation style.

2. What will your topic be? If you were given a general topic, you'll need to narrow it down so you can cover all relevant information but not so much that you won't find enough information to enable a rich discussion.

3. Can you summarize what your paper will be about in a sentence or two? You may need to do some preliminary research to be able to do this. If you're having trouble, try paraphrasing your topic as a question then answer that question (this may become your thesis statement). 

4. Do you have an open mind and are you willing to change directions based on your research?

5. Do you know where to find supporting evidence?

Step 2:   Familiarize yourself with the process and stages of research:

Anna Eisen, 2014

Background Knowledge = What you already know about it and what you find during initial research.

Topic = Assigned (video says, "Gaps in Research", but your professor assigned certain topics for a reason), Professional interest (related to your career or academic interests), Societal interest (What are people talking about or worried about), or Personal interes t.

Research Question = Topic + Question + Significance

1.   Picking your topic IS research!

2.    Get Background Information.

Background information provides a general overview of the topic including terms, concepts, relevant names of people or places, and dates of specific events. Gathering background information can help you confirm what you know, or answer questions you may have about the topic. This can also help you identify keywords for searching databases and refining your topic in the next stages of the research process.

Before you search for background information, you should ask yourself:

• What do I already know about this topic?
• What do I still need to learn about this topic?
• What do I need to know about this topic for this assignment?

Answering these questions will give you a good idea of what kinds of background information you need to find.

3. Refine your topic.

At any point during the research process you may need to make some adjustments to your chosen topic. You may realize that your topic is too broad and you need to narrow the topic to something more specific. Or your topic could be too narrow and you need to widen your focus so you can find more relevant information. This page provides ideas for refining your topic in a way that will help you then transform your topic into a workable research question.

If your topic is too narrow, you may have trouble finding any relevant information in a library database. Think more broadly about the topic and what interests you. Ask yourself:

• What are the larger concepts or ideas that my topic falls under?

While gathering background information on your topic. you may have found too many results. You will need to narrow your topic by focusing on a specific aspect of that topic. Ask yourself:

• What elements of this topic are most interesting to me?
• What about this topic do I want to know more?

This broadening and narrowing of your original idea can help refine and focus your topic.

4. Create Search

Now that you know what you are looking for, it's time to get searching! Creating an effective search also involves generating keywords and refining results using search tool limiters to find appropriate, relevant resources wherever you are searching.

Where to search:

When doing a project or research paper, using a variety of sources helps create a more interesting result. Different topics may require the use of different sources, but in general, you should use: 

• Library Databases
• Books and eBooks (check the library catalog) 
• Reference books--encyclopedias and dictionaries (The CREDO database has a ton of these)
• Scholarly Journals (free student access to scholarly journals through library databases)
• Newspapers (Not Peer-Reviewed, but most current)
• government documents
• statistical sources

Can't I just Google this?

There is a difference between " searching " and " researching ." Online search engines, like Google or Bing, are for searching but are not designed for researching. 

In college, you are expected to research your topic, not just complete a search. Research requires you to actively think about your topic and find the words that best fit your topic. Learning to use databases will turn you into a researcher and critical thinker. 

Online search engines merely search, so the information you find may not be reliable or accurate. You will need to use academic evaluation systems to make that determination. Using databases helps you find the information you need without you having to do all the thinking, especially if you choose peer reviewed, academic, or scholarly sources. Instructors will often ask for these types of articles. It is easy to search for these types of articles in databases and will increase your level of research. 

Library Collections

Searching in Library databases will connect you with many resources you might not find with a simple internet search. Resources in library collections are specifically selected to support the research needs of all library users and never charge for access. These include academic and scholarly articles, newspapers, books, videos, music, and more. When you access these resources though the library, they are free of charge so you can use them without paying money. Sources found in our databases are  NOT  internet sources. When your instructor says, "don't use the internet," skip Google and Wikipedia and use the libraries' databases and books. 

There are two tabs above and to the left that will link you directly to library resources. The first is the Books, eBooks, and Videos tab. The second is the Articles and Journals tab (this is where you will find databases). 

The key to searching the databases is using  KEYWORDS . Searching the databases is different than searching the internet. You want to find words, not phrases, that describe your topic. For example, if you are studying the Dust Bowl and the migration west to California you could use the History Reference Center database and use the search terms: Dust Bowl in the first search box and California in the second. Typically, you want to put the broadest term in first and then use the other boxes for terms to narrow your search. 

Watch the videos below to learn more about searching. The first video will give you some tips on how to search any database. The second video will give you tips on exploring topics using PPSC resources.

Topic Exploration using PPSC Learning Commons resources:

5.  Gather Results

Rough Outline

Make a list of all the important categories and subtopics you need to cover. These will become the foundation of your outline. Arrange them in a logical order, but don’t be afraid to rearrange… it’s better to fix structural problems in the outline phase than later after everything has already been written.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement conveys the purpose and topic of your paper and will be written into the introduction and usually restated in the conclusion of your paper. It is basically a summarization of what your paper is about written in a sentence or two. Because you may need to do some preliminary research to figure out what categories and subtopics you'll cover within the topic of your paper, it is best to develop your actual thesis statement after developing an outline. If you are having trouble getting your thesis statement down to one or two sentences, try paraphrasing your topic as a question then answer that question. 

Refined Outline

Organize your resources within the outline for your paper and showing where you plan to incorporate quotes from your sources.  Don't forget about  rhetorical devices,  or modes of persuasion, that should be included in any argumentative or persuasive paper or speech. These include: 

Ethos,  which are appeals to the credibility and trustworthiness of the speaker or writer.  Pathos,  which are appeals to the emotions and feelings of the audience.  Logos,  which are appeals to the logic and reason of the audience.  and  Kairos , which are appeals the timeliness and relevance of the argument. 

Think of  transition statements  between paragraphs and ideas and rearrange your outline if necessary.

Rough Draft

• Introduction with Thesis Statement.
• Body to include all categories and subtopics with quotes with smooth transitions.
• Conclusion as a restatement of your thesis statement, reiteration of your main evidence, and summarization of your findings.

Draft again until final draft with citations  (repeat as needed).

From Purdue OWL:

A  bibliography  is a list of sources (books, journals, web sites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "References" or "Works Cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).

An  annotation  is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an  annotated bibliography  includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following.

For more help, see our handout on  paraphrasing  sources.

For more help, see our handouts on  evaluating resources .

• Reflect : Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.

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• Last Updated: Jun 5, 2024 3:26 PM
• URL: https://cccs.libguides.com/c.php?g=1313341

7 stages of academic writing - and the different thesis types

At the beginning of your academic writing project you have to decide on a type of thesis. An overview of the seven stages of the research and academic writing helps. Each of these stages has its own characteristics with regard to the task, the goal, the methods, the sources and the challenges. And with each stage the difficulties increase, like in mountaineering. The right decision for one of the stages makes it easier to start the thesis. Here are the seven stages.

Stage 1 - Creating a knowledge system (thesis type: literature analysis)

The literature analysis thesis is the first and therefore the easiest of all stages. It is simply an overview of previous knowledge on a specific topic. This kind of thesis is possible when there is already quite a lot to a question. The task is to compile content from all kinds of reliable sources and present it clearly. The goal is thus an overview of secured knowledge about a question. Suitable sources for this kind of thesis are scientific publications such as textbooks and articles, but also statistics and publications of all kinds by experts.

The challenge is to maintain an overview in the diversity of information and to make the presentation systematic and comprehensible. In addition, the knowledge gained should also be critically examined and interpreted. This is the own contribution to new knowledge.

Stage 2 - Overview of the current state of research (Thesis type: Literature Review)

The Literature Review is a special kind of thesis. It is a very structured and systematic overview of current research findings from selected scientific articles. The sources for this type of thesis are exclusively professional journals. Other sources are only used for the introduction. Prerequisite for the success of this type of thesis is the existence of suitable professional articles on the topic. Therefore, at the beginning of the thesis there is a specific search for such professional articles. If there are not enough professional articles available, the topic has to be adapted accordingly. At least 15 relevant professional articles are required. The tangible result of this type of thesis is a matrix of the contents of the selected articles. The challenge is to quickly find one's way in a relatively new field of research without having the necessary experience.

Stage 3 - Survey with standardized questionnaire (Thesis type: empirical thesis with questionnaire)

In this type of thesis certain target groups are analyzed. A prerequisite for the survey is the existence of knowledge about the research subject. Therefore, the state of research is to be compiled from literature, either in the form of a literature review or a literature thesis. For the survey a separate questionnaire has to be developed. The challenge of this kind of thesis is the development of the questionnaire, the research hypotheses and the statistical evaluation of the collected data. Usually these activities are not sufficiently trained during the studies. Therefore, before deciding on such a type of thesis, one has to think carefully about whether one can master these challenges.

The result of this type of thesis is self-generated knowledge about the target group.

Stage 4 - Survey with partially standardized expert interviews (Thesis-Type: Empirical thesis with interview guide)

If there are still few findings on a specific research topic, it is useful to interview experts with the help of interview guidelines. This can build on existing knowledge. This should be gathered from economic sources. The challenges of this type of thesis are the preparation of the interview guide, working with qualitative methods of evaluation and the interpretation of the information obtained. Finding and winning experts are also major challenges.

The results of this type of thesis are findings that significantly expand the current state of knowledge in a certain direction.

Stage 5 - Survey with explorative interviews (Thesis type: Empirical thesis with open interview)

This type of thesis is to be used when there is still very little knowledge available on a specific research topic. In this case, basic information about the field has to be collected first. This type of thesis is always considered when relatively rare or completely new phenomena are involved. The challenge is to find the right interlocutors and to familiarize oneself with the subject area without having to resort to a variety of sources.

The result of this type of thesis is a first and fundamental insight into a certain narrowly defined research question.

Step 6 - Carrying out an experiment (thesis type: empirical thesis with protocols)

This type of thesis is typical for scientific subjects. It is about gaining new knowledge under narrowly defined conditions. In the social sciences, experiments are also used time and again. However, these are very complex and very difficult to design realistically. Experiments must be prepared very carefully. For this purpose, literature sources on previous findings must be evaluated and the framework conditions must be precisely defined. The results of experiments are new findings that can be easily checked by other scientists.

Tip: Enter this stage only if you study natural or technical sciences and therefore have to!

Stage 7 - Making an observation (Thesis type: Empirical thesis with an observation sheet)

The seventh and final stage of scientific thesis comes into question when you know almost nothing about something. The first step is to collect and evaluate basic information about the relevant facts. One challenge is that there are still few findings on this specific subject in the literature. This kind of thesis therefore requires quite a lot of time, self-confidence. Courage and expertise in a scientific thesis.

Tip: This type of thesis is therefore better saved for a dissertation. The results of observations are new findings that have a chance to make scientific breakthroughs.

Enjoy writing your text! Silvio and the Aristolo Team

PS: Check out the Thesis-ABC and the Thesis Guide for writing a bachelor or master thesis in 31 days.

Research Process

Dissertation markers expect you to include the explanation of research process in methodology chapter. A typical research process comprises the following stages:

1. Selecting the research area . Your dissertation marker expects you to state that you have selected the research area due to professional and personal interests in the area and this statement must be true. Students often underestimate the importance of this first stage in the research process. If you find a research area and research problem that is genuinely interesting to you it is for sure that the whole process of writing your dissertation will be much easier. Therefore, it is never too early to start thinking about the research area for your dissertation.

2. Formulating research aim, objectives and research questions or developing hypotheses . The choice between the formulation of research questions and the development of hypotheses depends on your research approach as it is discussed further below in more details. Appropriate research aims and objectives or hypotheses usually result from several attempts and revisions.

Accordingly, you need to mention in your dissertation that you have revised your research aims and objectives or hypotheses during the research process several times to get their final versions. It is critically important that you get confirmation from your supervisor regarding your research questions or hypotheses before moving forward with the work.

3. Conducting the literature review . Literature review is usually the longest stage in the research process. Actually, the literature review starts even before the formulation of research aims and objective. This is because you have to check if exactly the same research problem has been addressed before and this task is a part of the literature review. Nevertheless, you will conduct the main part of the literature review after the formulation of research aim and objectives. You have to use a wide range of secondary data sources such as books, newspapers, magazines, journals, online articles etc.

4. Selecting data collection methods . Data collection method(s) need to be selected on the basis of critically analyzing advantages and disadvantages associated with several alternative methods. In studies involving primary data collection, you need to write about advantages and disadvantages of selected primary data collection method(s) in detailed manner in methodology.

5. Collecting the primary data . You will have to start primary data collection only after detailed preparation. Sampling is an important element of this stage. You may have to conduct pilot data collection if you chose questionnaire primary data collection method. Primary data collection is not a compulsory stage for all dissertations and you will skip this stage if you are conducting a desk-based research.

6. Data analysis . Analysis of data plays an important role in the achievement of research aim and objectives. This stage involves an extensive editing and coding of data. Data analysis methods vary between secondary and primary studies, as well as, between qualitative and quantitative studies. In data analysis coding of primary data plays an instrumental role to reduce sample group responses to a more manageable form for storage and future processing. Data analysis is discussed in Chapter 6 in great details.

7. Reaching conclusions . Conclusions relate to the level of achievement of research aims and objectives. In this final part of your dissertation you will have to justify why you think that research aims and objectives have been achieved. Conclusions also need to cover research limitations and suggestions for future research .

8. Completing the research . Following all of the stages described above, and organizing separate chapters into one file leads to the completion of the first draft. You need to prepare the first draft of your dissertation at least one month before the submission deadline. This is because you will need to have sufficient amount of time to address feedback to be provided by your supervisor.

Individual stages in the research process outlined above are interdependent and the sequence has to be maintained. Moreover, the process of any research tends to be iterative, meaning that you may have to return back to the previous stages of the research process several times for revisions and improvement. In other words, no stage of the research process is fully completed until the whole dissertation is completed.

John Dudovskiy

The Upper Level Writing Requirement (ULWR): Stages of Research for a Paper

• The Upper Level Writing Requirement
• Publishable?
• Stage 1: Choosing a Topic
• Stage 2: The Preemption Check
• Stage 3: Researching for the Paper
• Additional Resources

Three Stages of Research

There are three Stages of Research when writing a scholarly paper:

• Researching WHAT to Write About
• Researching to Make Sure Someone Else Hasn’t Already Done It (The Pre-Emption Check)
• Researching for the Paper
• << Previous: Publishable?
• Next: Stage 1: Choosing a Topic >>
• Last Updated: May 16, 2024 1:19 PM
• URL: https://law-capital.libguides.com/ULWR

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The Early Stages of Research

Flipped learning module.

Each Flipped Learning Module (FLM) is a set of short videos and online activities that can be used (in whole or in part) to free up class time from content delivery for greater student interaction. At the end of the module, students are asked to fill out a brief survey, in which we adopt the minute paper strategy . In this approach, students are asked to submit their response to two brief questions regarding their knowledge of the module.

In this FLM, students are asked to complete a fill-in-the-blank outline which accompanies all three videos, covering the topics of understanding research, formulating a topic, and developing questions from topics. The completed outline will enhance the students’ note-taking skills and will serve as a summary of the FLM that they may refer to in the future.

research topic, claim, reasons, evidence, assignment sheet, practical question, conceptual question, exhibit source, argument source, theory source, transfer of strategies

Module Overview Introduction: Understanding research and your assignment Introduction to Research and this Module The Range of Research Understanding your assignment Finding and Formulating a Topic Finding a Topic Using the Internet for Inspiration Narrowing your Topic Developing Questions from Topics and Sources Questions from topics Different source types Questions from exhibits Questions from argument and theory sources Download Video Transcripts

Worksheet: The Early Stages of Research Module Outline

• Research is about:__________________________________________________
• (Point 1):__________________________________________________
• (Point 2):__________________________________________________
• (Point 3):__________________________________________________
• (Point 4):__________________________________________________
• (Question 1):__________________________________________________
• (Question 2):__________________________________________________
• (Question 3):__________________________________________________
• (Question 4):__________________________________________________
• (Question 5):__________________________________________________
• (Question 6):__________________________________________________
• (Question 7):__________________________________________________
• (Question 8):__________________________________________________
• (Question 9):__________________________________________________
• (Type 1):__________________________________________________
• (Type 2):__________________________________________________
• An exhibit is:___________________________________________________
• An argument source is a text that:__________________________________________________

Download Outline

Video 1: Introduction: Understanding Research and your Assignment

The early stages of research online activity 1, video 2: finding and formulating a topic, the early stages of research online activity 2.

• narrow its scope
• relate it to your interests

Submit your response to your instructor.

• Representations of race in fiction
• Public health and personal privacy
• Gender and rebellion in film
• Fairy tales in the 21st century
• Multicultural friendships between students
• Corporations and ethical obligations
• Tourism, poaching, and wildlife
• Climate change and poverty
• Video games and justice
• Freedom and disability
• Scientific advancements and sports
• Bilingualism and family

Video 3: Developing Questions from Topics and Sources

The early stages of research online activity 3.

• Media representations of refugees
• Education in the U.S. and China
• Social media and stress
• Food and cultural memory
• The opioid crisis and economics
• Music and globalization
• Mass shootings and politics
• Differences between urban and rural animals

The Early Stages of Research Survey

• What was the one most important thing you learned from this module?
• Do you have any unanswered questions for me?

The Early Stages of Research In-Class Activity

Transforming Topics Video 2 Online Activity Follow-up: Take turns sharing your strategies for narrowing your chosen topic’s scope and relating it to your interests. Take notes as your partner describes his or her strategies.

Video 3 Online Activity Follow-up: Take turns sharing the two research questions you developed and the strategies you used to draft them. Take notes as your partner discusses his or her research questions.

After each of you describes your work with both topics, discuss together the strategies for narrowing topics, linking topics to your interests, and developing initial research questions. Take brief notes on patterns and contrasts you notice in the processes you experienced and the work you drafted.

Looking at the assignment sheet, take turns discussing your ideas for your own research. Work together to consider how each of you can narrow a potential topic, make it meaningful, and brainstorm potential research questions. Discuss what strategies you can apply from the online activities and whether there are unique features of the assignment and the topic you actually want to pursue that mean you will need to use different strategies from the online activities. Take notes from your discussion of your ideas as well as any other notes about the assignment that seem useful. Be prepared to share with the class which strategies you found most effective and least effective.

Use the strategies and ideas from this module and the in-class pair work to do some further reflection and brainstorming for the assignment.

Download Worksheet

Download Digital Implementation of the Activity

See all Writing Program Flipped Learning Modules

Writing a research paper requires careful planning

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Thesis Writing Tools and Software Every Graduate Student Should Know

Writing a thesis is an arduous and time-consuming endeavor that requires meticulous research, organization, and attention to detail. Now, we are talking about situations in which students can apply for a professional thesis writing service from the best writers on specialized platforms, or can start using useful sites or tools. For graduate students, the utilization of specialized software can be a game-changer. These digital resources not only streamline the writing process but also enhance productivity, ensuring that students can focus their efforts on producing high-quality, well-researched work.

Thesis writing is a multifaceted task that involves various stages, from initial research and literature review to data analysis, writing, and formatting. Without the aid of appropriate tools, students may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information and the intricate requirements of academic writing. By leveraging the power of modern technology, students can alleviate the burden of tedious tasks, allowing them to devote more time and energy to the intellectual aspects of their research.

Thesis writing tools for organization and productivity

Effective organization and time management are paramount when undertaking a thesis project. Students must juggle multiple tasks, including research, writing, data analysis, and formatting, all while adhering to strict deadlines. Fortunately, a plethora of tools and software solutions are available to assist with organization and productivity:

• Project management tools: Applications like Trello, Asana, and Notion enable students to create boards, lists, and tasks, facilitating the organization and tracking of their thesis-related activities. These tools offer features such as due date reminders, progress tracking, and collaboration capabilities, ensuring that students remain on top of their schedules and responsibilities.
• Note-taking and outlining software: Programs like Evernote, OneNote, and Workflowy allow students to capture ideas, organize notes, and create outlines for their thesis. These tools often integrate with other productivity apps, providing a centralized hub for managing research materials and writing drafts.
• Time-tracking and productivity apps: Applications like RescueTime, Forest, and Focus Keeper help students monitor their time usage, set productivity goals, and minimize distractions. By gaining insights into their work habits, students can identify areas for improvement and optimize their time management strategies.

Reference management software for academic citations and bibliographies

Accurate and consistent citation formatting is a crucial aspect of academic writing, and managing references can be a daunting task, especially for a thesis with numerous sources. Reference management software streamlines this process, ensuring that students can effortlessly maintain and organize their bibliographic data:

• EndNote: This powerful software allows students to create and manage personal libraries of references, automatically generate in-text citations and bibliographies in various citation styles, and seamlessly integrate with word processing software like Microsoft Word.
• Mendeley: Offering a user-friendly interface, Mendeley enables students to organize and annotate their research materials, collaborate with colleagues, and generate citations and bibliographies with ease.
• Zotero: As a free and open-source reference management tool, Zotero provides features for collecting, organizing, and citing research sources, as well as integrating with popular word processors and web browsers.

Writing and editing tools for thesis composition

The writing and editing phases of thesis preparation are critical, as they involve crafting a cohesive and well-structured document that effectively communicates the research findings. Several tools and software solutions can assist students in this process:

• Word processing software: Applications like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice Writer offer advanced writing and editing capabilities, including spell-checking, grammar-checking, and formatting tools. These programs also support collaboration, allowing supervisors and committee members to provide feedback and suggestions directly within the document.
• Grammar and style checkers: Tools like Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and Hemingway App analyze writing for grammar, spelling, and style issues, providing suggestions for improvement. These tools can be particularly useful for non-native English speakers or those seeking to enhance the clarity and readability of their writing.
• Plagiarism detection software: Programs like Turnitin and iThenticate scan documents for potential plagiarism, ensuring that students maintain academic integrity and properly attribute sources in their thesis.
• Mind mapping and visualization tools: Applications like MindNode, XMind, and Coggle enable students to organize their ideas and concepts visually, facilitating the development of a clear and logical structure for their thesis.

By incorporating these writing and editing tools into their workflow, students can produce a polished and professional thesis that meets the highest academic standards.

Online platforms for finding relevant research materials

Conducting comprehensive and up-to-date research is a crucial aspect of thesis writing. While traditional library resources remain invaluable, online platforms and databases have revolutionized the way students access and retrieve scholarly materials:

• Academic databases: Platforms like Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus provide access to a vast repository of peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and other academic publications. These databases offer advanced search capabilities, enabling students to locate relevant and high-quality research materials efficiently.
• Digital libraries and repositories: Many universities and research institutions maintain digital libraries and repositories, such as institutional repositories or subject-specific archives, which house a wealth of theses, dissertations, and research papers. These resources can be invaluable for students seeking to understand the existing body of knowledge in their field and identify potential gaps or areas for further exploration.
• Open access resources: Initiatives like the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the Open Access Button promote the dissemination of research findings through open-access publications. These platforms provide students with free access to a wide range of scholarly articles, fostering the democratization of knowledge and enabling more comprehensive literature reviews.

With them, students can stay up-to-date with the latest research developments, access a diverse range of scholarly materials, and ensure that their thesis is grounded in a solid theoretical and empirical foundation.

Also Read: How to Choose a Research Paper Writing Service in 2024

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A bibliometric analysis of artificial intelligence in language teaching and learning (1990–2023): evolution, trends and future directions

• Published: 22 June 2024

Cite this article

• Ma Huiling   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6834-3195 1 , 2 ,
• Lilliati Ismail 2 &
• Han Weijing 2   nAff3  

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The advancement and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has introduced innovative changes in language learning and teaching. In particular, the widespread utilization of various chatbots as foreign language learning partners showcases their remarkable potential contribution to the field. Nevertheless, there are currently few studies that encompass extensive and holistic reviews and analyses of the relevant literature during this period. The study employs bibliometric analysis and a systematic review of representative research to present trends, the current status and future directions of AI research in language teaching and learning, providing language educators, policymakers, and research scholars with visually accessible and comprehensive insights. Results indicate that the field is in its early stages of development, growing rapidly with significant research potential. The study identified the most productive and influential sources, institutions, authors and countries and provided a summary for the most representative papers in the research field. Through keyword analysis, the study delineates the evolutionary progression of AI in the domain of language teaching and learning across different time periods, identifies prevailing research trends and proposes future research directions. Results indicate that influential research in this realm predominantly focuses on refining technological solutions and conducting empirical studies on AI applications in language teaching and learning. This highlights significant interest in the effectiveness of AI in language education and its implementation methods. However, research on the application of AI in language education is still in its infancy. Therefore, the study advocates for increased empirical research on AI’s specific applications in language listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as well as the development of more effective pedagogical approaches. Furthermore, the findings reveal a lack of attention given to various concerns and challenges associated with AI utilization in language teaching and learning, such as concerns regarding academic integrity, content authenticity, potential bias, privacy and security issues, and environmental concerns. At present, there is a lack of suitable solutions or regulatory frameworks proposed to address these concerns adequately.

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Data availability.

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Fakulti Pengajian Pendidikan, UPM, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Seri Kembangan, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia

Ma Huiling, Lilliati Ismail & Han Weijing

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Ma, H., Ismail, L. & Han, W. A bibliometric analysis of artificial intelligence in language teaching and learning (1990–2023): evolution, trends and future directions. Educ Inf Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12848-z

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12848-z

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