From a Rough Draft Paper to the Final Essay
Most professional researchers complain that students are not well prepared to write valid and quality research papers as they are supposed to do by the time of graduation. Lester et al reveals the cause of this academic problem as students struggling with the methods of research, grammar, and citations.
Other students do not know the difference between research papers and personal essays. There is a layout which guides a student on how to begin research and write an excellent research paper.First, a student should identify future tasks and prioritize them to avoid being closed out by deadlines. A serious student should check out those tasks whose deadlines are closer than others. After doing that, a schedule should be developed and organized.
After building a schedule, it is important to choose an appropriate topic to write about if choices are given. This step can be very hard especially when a student is not aware of what is interesting to him or her. It is paramount to pick an interesting topic to avoid running out of points when writing begins.
Upon choosing an interesting topic, it is critical to start carrying out research on the topic and taking notes. During this step, a student should ensure that there is a lot to write. Unique sources are critical to obtaining valid and acceptable information. These different sources include live lectures and personal interviews. When taking notes, a direct quote is recorded using quotation marks to avoid plagiarism.
Developing a thesis is vital, and this is the step that follows research and note taking. A thesis is written as a statement which is succinct and very clear. A thesis expresses the main idea or the main position in writing. This statement excludes known facts. An example of known facts includes that of a human heart beating seventy-two times in a minute. Such facts should not be considered as theses. A thesis should not also include specific arguments for they should be involved in the paragraphs that make up the body of a research paper.
After researching, taking notes and designing a quality thesis, one should create a smart outline on how the structure of the research paper should look like. A quality outline makes a student identify areas that need more research. It also enables a learner to identify key points of argument before reviewing a thesis statement. Reviewing a thesis statement reinforces one's decision to either continue with the thesis or develop a different one depending on the key points researched.
The next step is for a student to follow the outline created to write a rough copy also known as the draft. Mahmoud elaborates that a draft is written by pulling ideas from gathered sources that should be cited. If there happens to be a section which is too challenging to finish, there is need to handle the next section and go back to the challenging section later.
When the draft is ready, it is paramount to review it and revise to find out any errors to be corrected. It is advisable for a student to take a break and rest the mind and eyes for a while before reviewing and revising the draft. It is very important to have a friend review for the benefit of coming up with fresh opinions.
Properly cited sources should be noted down depending on the instructor's specifications concerning the preferred citation style. Examples of citation styles include MLA and APA.
The final step includes proofreading the draft, making the final copy, proofread the final copy and submit it to the instructor. Proofreading steps help to avoid copy pasting and grammar errors.
References
Lester, J. D., & Lester, J. D. The essential guide: Research writing across the disciplines. Boston: Pearson Education.
Mahmoud, S. Research & writing: A complete guide & handbook. White Hall, Va: Betterway Publications.
Polish-Translators: What Makes an Excellent Writer. Web: polish-translators.net/writing.html