Writing research papers is a normal part of academic life. Anyone who has been a student has surely experienced making essays or term papers at one point or another. In order to get the maximum benefit from submitting a written assignment for academic purposes, one must understand how to effectively create a good research paper. The act of recording facts, statistics, and observations is part of research, but it is not all there is to writing and completing a polished work. The writer must first keep in mind that the research paper is a reflection of his or her own unique thoughts, not just a repetition of ideas stated by another source.

Roth stated that “the ideas of others, repeated uncritically, do not make a research paper”. Therefore, the author must think and write independently, but also credit the various sources that helped him or her put useful individual ideas into writing. This degree of responsibility and accountability must be developed by any student or author who wishes to create interesting and scholarly research papers.

A good research paper is just the tip of the iceberg. Before writing the actual paper, the author should spend a great deal of time gathering facts, ideas, examples, sources and other related information. If a topic is not provided, the author must also think about a mind provoking theme to talk about, and then narrow it to a specific field of interest. Many authors make the mistake of choosing a topic that is too broad. The result is that they get paralyzed with a flood of sources and ideas, or they simply can’t write anything at all. On the contrary, if the topic of your research paper has been narrowed down to an easily definable topic and a few key points, you are in a terrific position to use that as a starting point or springboard for your supporting ideas.

Forlini stated that “when you have gathered all your supporting material, you are ready to decide on the best method of organization”. Doing the research and gathering of ideas is just half the battle. For a research paper to be considered well written, its ideas must be arranged in a logical order and smooth transition. The real challenge to the writer comes at the actual writing stage. The ideas must be written in such a way that they achieve the writer’s purpose, whether it is to entertain, inform, or persuade the readers. To be able to achieve this, it would be helpful for the writer to develop an outline for the research paper. The purpose of the outline is to list the opening sentence, thesis statement, key points, and supporting sentences of the research paper in an orderly manner. This will ensure that the writer will not digress from the particular topic and will succeed in capturing the attention and winning the acclaim of the readers.