Research Essay

Follow Our Tips for Writing a Sound Research Essay

Before we sit down to discuss the principles behind research essay writing, let us review the basic definitions and terms. So, what is a research essay?

It would be fair to say that it is one of the many types of academic writing, which brings together theory and practice and provides students with an opportunity to analyze some topic or issue in depth. Most research essays are brief and succinct. They incorporate an introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion, sometimes with recommendations for practice.

Writing a research essay is nothing easy. The greatest difficulty is in gathering appropriate evidence and organizing it according to the logic and outline of your research essay. In fact, you must follow so many principles and recommendations that even the simplest research Essay task will become a daunting issue. You may find it to be frustrating and even confusing to review dozens of research sources and organize them in the order of priority and significance. This is why we have decided to develop a set of comprehensive writing tips for you.

The following are the very first steps you should make when writing a research essay:

• Select an inspiring or fascinating topic for your essay
• Collect evidence from credible sources
• Make notes and use them to organize your outline
• Develop a good plan for your essay
• Write the rough draft
• Add relevant information or remove irrelevant data
• Edit and refine your draft until it is perfect

Quality Research Is Everything

Of course, you should start doing your research from your academic university library. This is the starting point for any good-standing Essay. You will find a whole plenty of relevant books and credible journal articles there. Besides, most libraries also feature a free access to the Internet. All you need to do is asking your librarian to help you locate the most interesting and recent sources. Sit down, take your time, and enjoy the atmosphere. It is so comfortable in the library, you will not be able to leave it early. Make notes. Make copies of the sources that are the most interesting and useful for your research essay. Learn the lesson of proper research and follow it in any other academic writing task. You can use the Internet, but you should be very careful with the sources you find there. It can be valuable, but it can also be dangerous for a student who does not know how to distinguish between credible and non-credible articles.

Choose a Topic

It is so great when you are free to choose a topic that is interesting to you. In fact, if your teacher gives you the power and freedom to choose the topic, he or she expects that you will choose something you are familiar with or something that makes you passionate or emotional. Do not choose a topic you have no interest in. Rather, explore something that motivates you to do into the depths of research and provide your readers with some new knowledge or information they have been missing. 

Do not Forget about Making Notes

You must be very organized. You will need to review dozens of sources, and you cannot remember them all. This is why you will have to make notes. You will use them when you are developing an outline and working on the rough draft of your essay. Of course, you can make the whole process much simpler if you simply photocopy the article or book pages needed for your essay. Then you will simply need to highlight the necessary information and use it while writing your essay.

Whenever you make notes, do not forget to include a full reference. You will use this bibliographic information when working on your research essay.

Create an Outline

After you finish collecting and systematizing the current research, it is time to create a brief but comprehensive outline. Your notes will be guiding you are you are developing the basic structure for your essay. You do not have to write your outline in full sentences. It is just enough to make some brief notes that will help you follow simple logic and avoid logic fallacies in your argument. An outline is one of the essential features of good research essay writing. When you are done with the rough draft, you will have to check everything once again according to the outline you have developed.

Your First Draft Deserves Attention

When you finish compiling an outline, you can start writing a rough draft of your research essay. It is much easier to structure and organize each sentence in your research essay when you have a well-developed outline. Do not try to jump above your head. This is only a rough draft of your essay. You will keep on refining it until it is perfect.

Refine, Edit, and Proofread Your Research Essay

When you are done with the rough draft of your essay, you will need some time to edit and refine it. You may need to edit and proofread your essay more than once before it is finalized. Check if all sources have been listed on your references page. Ask someone else to read your essay and correct any mistakes that you find in the body of your work.