The Ultimate Guide to Writing College Research Papers

By Ian Donnelly

Every college student has that one required assignment on their syllabus that they dread above everything else. For some, the idea of working on a group project makes them break out in a cold sweat, while others start counting their unused sick days when the teacher assigns an oral presentation. But while those particular forms of homework are mercifully sporadic in college syllabuses, students who fear research papers more than anything aren’t as fortunate. Research papers are some of the most common college assignments, and the amount of time, energy, and consideration that research papers demand is enough to make any student’s head spin.

That’s why uCribs has done some research of its own and written the Ultimate Guide to Writing College Research Papers. While college-level writing may feel like an artisanal talent, there’s nothing mysterious about writing good papers—it is a skill that anyone can master with the right tools for the job and a little self-motivation.

Read Before You Write

No matter what subject you’re covering or which professor assigns it, every research paper requires the same basic task. You are expected to pick a topic and engage in independent research to find information and sources. Depending on which course you’re writing your paper for, your potential topic can be anything you’d like to write about. As long as you stay within any guidelines that your professor sets for the assignment and base your paper’s concept around the course readings, you have a substantial amount of freedom as a college student to direct your research paper wherever your personal opinions, reflections, and interpretations take you.

That’s why it is crucial that you make use of the course readings. It may sound obvious that you should do the required readings that your professor assigned, but believe it or not, some students bypass these important tasks, opting for online summaries or cliff-noted versions.  If you haven’t read the course material, you can’t expect to write a coherent, well-researched opinion about it; it’s also very difficult to back up any of your points without quoted support. The whole point of writing a research paper is to demonstrate and apply what you have learned in the course—and that’s usually why a professor assigns them in the first place!

Take a Stand with Your Thesis

A thesis is the main argument of your paper. It is the point you are trying to prove to your reader, so it’s important to take the time and develop a strong, specific argument. After all, you need to make sure you have something to say before you start cranking out those page requirements. The more concise, thought-out, and defendable your thesis is, the easier it will be to write your paper.

It is also important to remember to put your thesis at the front of your argument, right in the introductory paragraph. Don’t wait until the last page to tell your reader what you want them to take away from your work. You want to present your informed opinion right out of the gate so you can spend the rest of the pages proving your point with quoted material and insightful analysis. A strong thesis will guide you through your argument and give your paper a solid, grade-A structure.

Stay Focused with Your Research

You know that archaic, lonely building in the middle of campus that looks more than a little spooky at night? That’s called a library, and it’s your home base for finding all the sources you need for your research papers. It’s got everything from scholarly articles and books to newspapers and research statistics, and odds are there’s a handy online catalog system you can use to search for sources, so you won’t have to rifle through ancient card catalogs that belong on the Antiques Road Show.

To make your research gathering as painless as possible, be sure to stay focused on the thesis statement that you created. You need to determine what the important concepts of your paper are—think of what the keywords of your topic boil down to, and then apply those to your search for sources. It’s just like asking Google something; you can streamline your search and save yourself a lot of time by whittling out any unnecessary keywords and homing in on your main points.

Stick to the Formula

Research papers and college courses tend to share a similar growth rate—as you get deeper into your major and take more challenging courses, you’ll be required to write longer, denser research papers. But there’s an easy-to-follow formula you can use to structure any paper into a manageable, efficient assignment. It all about determining how much exposition you need for a particular assignment and formatting your pages accordingly.

The basic concept to remember is that for each page of your paper, you need roughly two paragraphs. So, let’s say you have an eight-page paper due—that means you need to write roughly sixteen paragraphs. Don’t forget that you have to write an introductory paragraph and a conclusion, so that takes care of two of them, which leaves you with fourteen body paragraphs. Now that you know what you need, simply write fourteen research-supported ideas that back up your thesis, and before you know it, you have a well-structured, eight-page paper.

Show Your Respect

The idea behind citation is simple: when you use other people’s ideas, you need to give them credit. For research papers, you get to draw upon the work of those who have come before you to form your own thoughts and opinions, so it’s only fair that you show respect to the shoulders you stand upon. Plus, differentiating between your ideas and your research will prove that you’ve done your due diligence and found relevant sources, which is a key element that professors look for when grading research papers.

There is a dizzying amount of citation formats used in the world of academia, and different professors will most likely require different formats. Be aware of which format you need to use before you begin researching, and for every source you decide to use when writing your paper, make sure you save the reference’s complete bibliographic citation information. The information needed will vary from format to format, but the author, the title, and the publication date and location are all standard necessities for your citations. But don’t worry, you will not need to cite uCribs for all these resourceful research paper writing guidelines—we’re just happy to help!

Share this article: