How to Write a Research Paper A Step by Step Approach

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How to Write a Research PaperA Step by Step
Approach

• Created by Janet Armentor-Cota
• and Doreen Anderson-Facile
• California State University, Bakersfield

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Choosing a Topic

• Initial Questions
• What topics are you interested in exploring?
• What are you hoping to accomplish?
• Use Boolean Logic
• Select key terms and conduct a Boolean search.
• http//enact.sonoma.edu/

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Choosing a Topic

• Narrow topic
• Sift through the results for relevant material
• For assistance, see Website
• Develop research question
• Look for contradictions, weaknesses, and
  unexplored areas in the literature
• Return to Boolean Logic to refine your literature
  search

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Part I Introduction

• What is the issue or problem you are
  investigating? How will you approach this topic?
• Describe the importance (significance) of the
  study - why was this worth doing in the first
  place? Provide a broad context.
• Include your thesis statement.
• Let your audience/reader know what the paper will
  address.

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Part II The Literature Review

• What previous research has been done on your
  specific topic?
• What have been the theoretical approaches to your
  topic? What methodologies were used? Make sure
  you include any pioneering work. (You do not want
  to miss literature that has been a building block
  on the topic).

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Part II The Literature Review

• What have been the findings from previous
  research?
• How do you think your research will be similar or
  different in some way?
• Compare your thoughts on your research with what
  others have said about the subject.

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Part III Theory

• Most often your research topic will guide you to
  a theoretical perspective.
• Examine the literature to explore the topic from
  different theoretical perspectives.
• Refine your research question.

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Part III Theory

• Develop a theoretical or combination of
  theoretical approaches to address your research.
• Describe the theoretical approach you are
  utilizing
• Describe how this theoretical approach
  specifically addresses your research question.

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Part IV Methods

• How did you go about doing your research? What
  steps did you take during the process?
• How did you collect your data? Where was the data
  collected? When was it collected?
• Explain your methods for collecting data.

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Part V Findings and Discussion

• Spend time organizing the data by themes.
• Themes are organized ways of demonstrating
  patterns of social behavior.
• Think of a title to give each theme you notice.
  Once you have done this, you should pick bits of
  data that help to demonstrate themes.
• Spend time trying to analyze and explain the
  evidence.

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Part V Findings and Discussion

• How do your findings compare with the existing
  literature on the research topic and question?
• Explain the findings from your research.
• Use theories and past literature to assess and
  explain your findings.
• Offer any criticisms and suggestions for future
  research.

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Part VI Conclusion

• Summarize your major findings. Make certain that
  you directly connect this section to the
  introduction.
• What can we learn from this research? How do you
  see this work helping to understand some aspect
  of social life?

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Writing Tips

• Does the essay have a beginning, middle, and an
  end?
• Is your writing style clear?
• Is your essay well organized, with transitions
  between your ideas and paragraphs?

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Writing Tips

• Do you use proper spelling, punctuation, and
  grammar?
• Do you use the specified font, margins, and
  reference format?

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Additional Information

• Boolean search with two exercises
• Handout on how to write a research paper
• Note card activity on how to write a research
  paper
• Box exercise on how to write a research paper
• All can be found at the following website
• http//enact.sonoma.edu/
• Another helpful website for writing papers is
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/