1. Never choose a topic that is out of personal interest

In doing research papers, it is always easier if the topic being discussed interests the writer itself. A number of ideas come up if the topic levels the writer’s interests, thus allowing exemplary research paperwork.

2. Never use needless words

Students often think that the fluffier their sentences are, the more it becomes enticing. The fact is, most of the time, the thought is being taken for granted because of these needless words. Remember, always keep your thoughts simple and clear.

3. Keep thoughts intact

This means, focus on the topic and the topic itself only. Nonetheless, your research paper will be a crap.

4. Don’t let failure distract you

In every research work, failure attacks. With that, never let it hinder in producing an optimum research work.

5. Always consult the opinion of other people

Admit it, it is always good to hear feedbacks. Feedbacks are considered the engine in knowing the effectivity of your work. It really helps in creating a more efficient research outcome.

A review of the relevant literature on a particular topic is a vital component of all research degrees. There are many reasons why a review of the current literature should be conducted before beginning a research project. These include:

• To identify any gaps in the literature
• To avoid unnecessarily repeating work that has been carried out already
• To identify important research, sources, views and theories in your field
• To identify other researchers working in the same field
• To allow you to understand and explain the context into which your thesis will fit
• To develop ideas on how best you could undertake your own research

There are four stages to conducting the review. The first stage is to define your project. To do this you will need to know the topic or field you wish to write your thesis on. The second stage is to search for the literature. This involves searching through libraries, journal databases, the internet and other places to find all the relevant sources on your topic. You will be looking for books, monographs, journal articles, conference papers, theses, reports, papers, and studies.

The third stage is to evaluate and analyse the literature you have found. You will evaluate the sources to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to discover which sources make the most significant contribution to the field. You will analyse and interpret the literature in order to discover what information is relevant to your thesis. At this point, you will begin dividing the literature into categories. The fourth stage is to write the Literature Review itself.

The introduction should contain:

• A definition of the topic or field and the objectives of the Literature Review
• A introduction to the overall trends, conflicts, conclusions or themes that will be discussed
• An indication of how the sources have been divided for discussion
• An indication of the gap found in the literature that the thesis aims to fill

The body should contain:

• A division of the literature into categories for review
• A summary and analysis of each of the sources, a discussion of their strengths and weaknesses, an explanation of what they contribute to the field, and a description of how the sources differ from each other
• A discussion of the gap identified in the current literature and how your thesis will attempt to fill it
• Remember to structure the body of the Literature Review as you would an academic essay, making sure it is well organised and structured

The conclusion should contain:

• Conclusions regarding which sources make the most valuable contribution to the understanding and development of the area of research, maintaining the focus established in the introduction
• A summary of the gap identified in the current literature and how your thesis will attempt to fill it

Once you have written your Literature Review, the final step is to have it professionally edited by an academic editor. This will ensure that your work is presented in the best possible way, in formal academic language, and free from grammatical and other errors.

A detailed discussion of these two methods will clarify the concepts presented above:

1. Analytical Papers

In an analytical research paper, the aim is to attain a thorough expertise of the concept that is being presented so that it can be broken down and represented from the writers’ point of view.

In this form of the research paper, an individual approaches the research question without any pre-conceived notions and ideas about the subject at hand. Thereafter a careful survey of the opinions and views is undertaken. Ultimately when familiarity with the topic is achieved; a person is able to restructure and relocate the concepts that underlie the basic topic in his paper; the very essence of an analytical paper; critical contemplation and evaluation of the question at hand is necessary for an analytical paper.

2. Argumentative Papers

This type of a paper may also be termed a persuasive paper. Aside from critical thinking which is essential for the production of a quality paper, another familiar concept that dominates academic circles is the concept of an argument.

The basic difference from the former kind that qualifies the persuasive kind is that the paper takes a conscious stance and argues in favor of one of the arguments with cogent facts and points presented in its favor. The aim is to mould the reader’s mind in favor of one possible answer to the research question backed by reliable data and arguments.

Conclusion

Both approaches require logical thinking and smart evaluation alongside comprehensive research of the available sources. However the difference is created through the process of writing, analytical papers provide a more balanced approach where all views pertaining to the question are presented whereas argumentative papers debate in favor of one logical solution above the others.

1. Proof read your papers well-you may have written the best paper in the world but no one will be able to get you thoughts and your ideas if your paper is filled with typos and errors. After you have written the paper do take a few minutes to check through what you have written t o make sure that there are no typos and grammatical errors.

2. After writing your thesis presentation, take a look at the overall format of your paper. Most professors provide a detailed summary of how they want the title page, introduction page and overall presentation of the paper. You should follow this to the tee to prevent any silly errors and mistakes. If you do not follow set formats your papers will be rejected resulting in later problems.

3. Most professors also assign projects to be completed along with the term papers. You should be able to collect data from your sales projects to co-relate with your data. Please do brush up your analysis methods of how to collate data and understand it to produce better results on your research methods.

4. While checking your papers please do not relay on your spell checker as it does not do the corrections of simple grammatical mistakes. It cannot correct from – and form and you lost out because of these errors. The best idea is to sleep on it and wait till the next day to take a fresh look at what you have written.

5. Please do give credit where it’s due. If you have taken research and used it for references then use the proper citation style to tell your readers where you took your references from. Use an annotated bibliography and citation styles as your professor has asked you to do.

6. Anecdotal information is not considered for research purposes. If you have interviews, actual quotes and laboratory data to back up anecdotal information then that is ok but other that that please do not use gossip and rants by cults and hate groups as the basis for your term paper.

7. Do not use superlatives like good, felt and think etc. These words are not supposed to be used as they do not tell the reader the actual facts but are supposed to be feelings that you could feel with emotions and technical writing for research papers does not need feelings.

8. Wrong words like mistakes between affect and effect or misspelling of important appliances like a spectrophotometer or oscilloscope are not to be done. If you don’t know the spellings please do Google them immediately to find out what they mean and the spellings. Mistakes with technical terms just demonstrate that you do not know your subject well at all.

This article will cover the common errors of essay writing and a few tips to help alleviate those issues.

1. Spelling – Not Only Spell Check

Spell check is one of the most wonderful inventions ever. It helps everyone, not only students with ensuring the words on their paper are spelled correctly. Over the years we have all learned to spell, but there are those specific words that give us trouble each and every time. Many of us have become dependent on the computer for alternate words, spelling and catching grammatical errors, but we also have to remember that the computer is not 100% error proof. By this point you fully realize that different words can have different meanings as well as alternate spellings. Though spell check is a very efficient tool there are items that it simply does not catch. This doesn’t mean that spell check leaves words incorrectly spelled; it means that the word that you intended may not be the word that is included in the paper. For example words such as there and their are commonly mistaken in the context of the sentence. The computer is logical, but is not able to apply common sense to wording.

2. Improper Person

Almost every student has a problem with writing in the wrong perspectives at some point or another. This is a very common problem and can be addressed with a little bit of understanding. The two most common perspectives of writing are the first and third person. The second person perspective is generally not required for most college, high school or other academic papers unless otherwise specified. In most cases the third person perspective is used when it applies to everyone and not any one person specifically. First person refers to the author or the individual writing the paper. The first person perspective is commonly seen in opinion or evaluation papers, from the writer’s point of view.

3. Fragments and Run On Sentences

Students commonly find themselves either with a long winded sentence or one that is not a complete idea. This is a very common problem among professional writers. Generally, individuals will either have trouble with one or the other, but in some cases both issues are a problem. Spell check will catch fragments and run on sentences for the writer to correct before turning the essay in. Run on sentences are easy to spot because they are two independent sentences sandwiched together. They can be corrected by simply adding punctuation, and therefore separating the sentences. For fragment sentences it is important to express a freestanding idea in the sentence. Below are examples of both:

RUN ON: Logan loves to color he is a talented artist. (This would sound better if it were broken down into two – it crams two complete thoughts together.)

Fragment: Such as dogs, cats and horses. (This sentence can not stand alone and make sense – what about dogs, cats and horses? What the author means is unclear.)

4. Not Proofreading

Proof reading is not all that fun and no one likes to do it, but it is imperative for a well written essay. As we pointed out earlier spell check does not catch every type of error that can be found in typical writing. It only takes a few minutes to read over each and every sentence ensuring that they are complete thoughts, have the correct words and make sense. Proof reading increases grades by about 10 to 20 points every single time. Most professors and teachers claim that if the students would have reread or proofed the paper before turning it in, they would have received a much better great. In many cases those extra points could mean the difference between passing and failing the entire class, or gaining entrance into a school of choice. If possible having someone else read over the paper or proof it as well can help, sometimes the author understands the concept, but the reader may not be able to understand.

The best advice in writing a good essay is to slow down and follow the guidelines to ensure a quality paper. All of the steps must be followed or it is likely that the paper will have errors and will receive a poor grade.

1. Choose your topic carefully

Before you can formulate your outline almost all of your topic selection should be over. You should have a final topic in hand with almost all of the references required for the topic to be written. Get all the references and bibliographies organized in a separate book so that you don’t lose any ideas. Narrow down your references and bibliography till you have a focused central question which is you can provide a solution for!

2. Locate iInformation and store in a single location

Try to locate references from varied sources like encyclopedias and web science sites which have the most reliable information and sources. You can also try to use almanacs, science publications, scholarly journals, manuscripts, magazines, but do not use magazine articles and critics views as your own as they are not reliable.

3. Prepare Bibliography Cards for your outline formation

Get a set of white cards where you can jot down bibliography information to use in your summary writing.

4. Get several sets of note cards

These are very useful to note down all relevant information in pertinent paragraphs, make sure you arrange relevant and connected ideas in one paragraph and one note card. Put in the bibliography and references too so that you not have a coherent outline of all of the information you want in your essay.

5. Prepare an Outline by dividing your note cards into separate groups

Divide the note cards into connected and coherent topics, subtopics, details, as well as sub details after you’ve read through the details on them. You can also shuffle them around to get a better idea of what happens when you move paragraphs and ideas around.

6. Write a rough draft using this note card outline

These note cards now contain you entire term paper summary outline. You can use it to write several rough drafts of you research paper and review it several times. You can also specialized software available online which will prepare the outline for you in a few minutes when you put in the required ideas.

7. Make sure you have several rough drafts ready

Always spell check your grammar and spelling before you do get your rough drafts sent in for approval to your professor.

8. Prepare Your Bibliography in detail

List the information from your bibliography cards in the relevant areas as you have sorted them. This is necessary as most professors will definitely check sources and references to understand your term paper.

9. Prepare title pages and table of contents

The title page will be the very first page which has your name, your professor’s name, and your project details on it. The table of contents will have the topics, central subtopics, as well the page numbers for the ideas.

10. Final Check

Make sure that you have everything in order and if you have the research paper outline ready for submission too. a few professors may want to take a look at your outline much before you submit your term paper to get an idea of how you are progressing.

1. Start at your university’s library

Look for books and periodicals that you can mine information from. Checkout the online reserves to really get your search going. University databases are huge portals that can link you to important resources. Search through online journals. Familiarize yourself with all that your college library has to offer, and you will have plenty of research info to incorporate.

2. Use the Internet to gain a basic familiarity with your material

It’s amazing what you can find using a simple search engine. Get an overall view of the topic you need to research, before you start looking for more in depth resources. Discover the common terms and elements of whatever debate or issue you have to ponder. Once you’ve used the Internet to get a basic understanding, you’ll know what exactly you need more in depth coverage on.

3. Visit research institutes and think tanks on the web

Think tanks always have links to their latest research efforts and studies. Make use of recent studies, and incorporate evidence and conclusions into your own unique take.

4. Online journals are great sources for scholarly research

You can find in-depth academic papers that are extremely focused in their scope. Draw from these rich sources of scholastic digestion. Read the footnotes and get more information. The more academic papers you read on the subject that you are covering, the more comfortable you will become with the important issues surrounding whatever debate you are investigating.

5. Consider using the resources of another university

You can access a ton of information over the Internet. Many universities have their own archived material that they make available to the general public. If you need a direct quote from a historical document, chances are you can find the complete document somewhere in an online sourcebook belong to a college or university.

1. Begin early

If you are currently busy and thinking there will be more time later, you might do better to think again. The future may only seem in order because it is yet to arrive. When it does, it will be as chaotic as the current situation is. So how do you end up being late? It all happens a day at a time. It is impossible to know when you will have a clear chunk of time later, so proceed to the next step as soon as a paper is assigned. Not doing so immediately lands authors, and yourself, on the road to being late-and it all happens a little as each day passes.

2. Create a budget of pages

Let us assume that the assignment is a descriptive essay or, alternatively, a common “compare/contrast” paper. For matters of example, let us take the latter:

Compare and contrast the roles played by Freedom Park and Liberation Field in immigrants’ lives in America in the 1800s.(Please note that Freedom Park and Liberation Field are fictitious places and are only used as examples in our white paper.)

Let us say that the paper is intended to be around 2500 words (about six pages) in length when it has a margin of 1″ all around and single-spaced. Let us further suppose that the paper will not have a cover page. We also have to remember that the bibliography is never included in the page count.

The page budget for the paper also serves as the outline of your paper. You would have to decide what the elements of the paper would be, and the allocation of the necessary number of words/pages for each element. In the sample assignment, the logical page budget is established as follows:

1/2 page Opening statement. What is the paper all about? What are the subjects that will be presented? What are the paper’s objectives?

One page Facts about Freedom Park. Where is it located? When was it built? Who uses it? Are there noteworthy events that it has hosted?

One page Facts about Liberation Field. Where is it located? When was it built? Who uses it? Are there noteworthy events that it has hosted?

One page Immigration to New York, in general. What immigrant groups arrived during the time period specified? Are there interesting and relevant facts that may be cited for each group?

Two pages The meat of the paper; addressing the topic. What are the similarities and/or differences between the immigrant groups concerned, their respective involvement in their field/park, and the reason for their involvement?

1/2 page Summary and conclusion. How was the topic explored? What was determined / proven?

Page outlines provide authors with an overview of the appropriate coverage of each element of the paper. Without this outline, it is very easy to write excessively about issues you are already greatly familiar with, and much easier to write too little of issues you are not very familiar with. Moreover, you may not be able to address all issues involved. With a page outline, you can focus on addressing all issues within the corresponding amount of space coverage. More often than not, we find that with page outlines, we tend to edit down (lessen page coverage) than drag word count up with redundancies and/or generalizations. This is always a far much better position to have as an author.

Some professors specify page limits, while others do not. Thus, it is of extreme importance that you be able to plan your paper properly with the aid of a page outline. Writing is not about simply setting down on ink what comes to your mind, and then extending the words/phrases to meet page length limits. More than anything, it involves careful development of the proposed research statement or position on any given issue.

3. Gather resource materials

Begin the paper with the assigned text if such is supplied. Academic textbooks usually contain bibliographies and/or footnote citations in reference to other books/articles. Hard copy publications remain excellent sources as the first set of resource materials to look for. When there is no assigned textbook relating to the assignment, you can begin with a search in an online library and with a subject search. The bibliographies and citations in this first batch of sources, if researched correctly, guarantee that much of the task will already be accomplished.

Next, build a list of the resources the first source of references point to. If the research task is small (less than 25 pages output, less than 15 sources), then a handwritten/typewritten breakdown is normally sufficient. However, if the research effort is greater (not too many undergraduate papers are, or will ever be), putting together the list in a spreadsheet and/or a Word document should be considered. Larger lists need search capabilities of the journal sources/references for better tracking of the subjects in each journal against subjects that cannot be found.

After locating the references/resources, prepare them for mark-up (always remember to do this only to photocopied/printed out copies and not to the original documents):

• For journals, always remember to photocopy journal covers and content tables because these pages usually contain the citation information for the articles that will be used.

• For Internet sources, print out the article/source and ensure that the URL (Web address of the source) is printed.

• Treat journal sources as you would your book sources.

Always remember that sources with their own bibliographies are the best references. As such, journals remain the most credible academic sources as opposed to ordinary publications like magazines. Unless your source is an acknowledged staple (or unless the paper’s subject is historical) in your field of study, try to find the most recent references as they more often prove to be more credible than earlier literature; this is especially true in the areas of science/technology.

4. Make a first reading of gathered resource materials

A first reading is a quick browse through your references. You would need a general concept of the subject matter at hand to help form your own ideas regarding the topic. Mark the references that appear important and/or related to the concepts and/or facts of the task. Do not hope to gain in-depth knowledge at this time, but try to form a specific judgment regarding the references.

First readings should be conducted even while the resources are still being gathered. This saves much time. Always have some journals available for a quick read at any given time; this may be between classes, while in a bus, on a train ride, during lunch, and practically anywhere else. Always remember where you left off reading so no time is wasted when the material is picked up again.

At this stage of research writing, you will find seemingly essential materials/information that may prove worthless in the end. Cull liberally. It is best to differentiate the mash from the real grain at this point. Once the first read is done, ensure that the selected references are properly marked within one’s source sheet.

5. Draft a research statement

After the first read, one should be ready to draft a research statement, which will be the core of the research paper. It is a simple statement with specific points that will form the coverage of the paper. Ideally, it is a paragraph composed of three to four sentences. Using our sample, the suggested research statement reads as follows:

The Irish were among the first big immigrant groups to land in New York. Through the years, these groups also came: the Swedes, the Germans, the Italians, the eastern Europeans, the Chinese, the Greeks, the Koreans, and more. The first generation of settlers often brought with them games that they played in their places of origin, but their second generations chose to adopt “American” sports, particularly baseball. Immigrant groups with access to venues such as Freedom Park and Liberation Field are most likely to develop skills needed to become sports professionals.

6. Read the selected references a second time around

After having formed the research statement, one should read each of the selected sources a second time and in a more in-depth fashion, specifically searching for quotable passages that can support the research statement. Ensure that each potential quotable passage is marked for convenient reference, and that each of the reference sources is properly marked once the second reading is done for them.

7. Create the “backbone” of the document with a word processor

First, set up the margins to 1″ on all sides (or to what is specified by the professor/publisher). Next, create a header including page numbers, and footers with file name and path. Form a first page with name and title lines, and insert a page break to create a second page. Finally, label the second page as the “Bibliography.” Note that there are no entries to be typed into the Bibliography at this stage, but citations will be added as quotes/references are typed in while the paper is written. Therefore, the paper now has pages: a start page with paper title, plus a blank Bibliography page.

Two points to keep in mind:

The bibliography documents whole books/articles.

Notes (these may be footnotes at the bottom of each page, or endnotes at the end of the research) link quoted phrases/sentences/concepts in the paper to a specific page in the bibliography.

Footnotes may be made in an MS Word document from the menu bar: Insert > Reference > Footnote

8. Type in the marked quotations, ensuring each has a comment regarding its relation to the research statement

At this point in the paper, only typing is required. Transfer/type in all quotes that have been marked in the sources into the Bibliography page. Ensure that each entry is indented half an inch from the margin, and the entries are listed in alphabetical order. As each entry is typed in, form the citation footnote for the entry. These footnotes should be page specific to the reference being cited. Using this method, a credible citation list is created with minimized ambiguity, addressing imprecise citations that may be suspect.

As this step is largely mechanical, it may be started, paused, and re-initiated. With this stage, two significant aspects of the paper are remembered: the bulk of the paper is built with academically sound content and it completes the bibliography as well.

Once this step is completed, roughly 80% of the paper is also completed, given that proper care and attention have been placed in selecting the passages that are typed in.

9. Develop the thoughts of the content, ensuring each is supported by quotes

Insert several blanks at the beginning of the paper before the first quote that will be used, and begin the draft of the paper’s content. Note that this starting point will ultimately fall into the middle part of the paper, but writing begins here because it is the most significant content of the paper.

Next, introduce another point, and then cut and paste quotations from the list completed in Step 8. Explore (by adding supporting sentences), support (by citing/quoting the author/s of the reference), or simply elaborate on the idea. Following this, cite two or more powerful quotations from the completed list in Step 8, citing different sources, and finally restating and summing up the idea with one’s original thoughts on the matter.

This pattern of writing should be followed until all the concepts of the core statement are addressed.

A nearly finished paper will emerge from this step.

10. Write the Introduction and Conclusion of the research paper

In the example used, the Introduction would discuss details about Freedom Park and Liberation Field. This section does not form the heart of the paper, but ensure that quotes are still used to anchor the content to facts from the resources.

Make the conclusion concise and succinct. Re-state the major concepts explored by the paper, highlighting what has been “proven” using quotes and facts derived from the paper’s main body (constructed in Step 8). Avoid redundancy in terms of word use and sentence structure, a common mistake committed by less experienced authors worried about word count. Trust that a careful execution of Step 8 guarantees that word count limits are met for the paper.

11. Write the Abstract of the research paper

It may seem strange that writing the Abstract of the paper is reserved toward the final stages of drafting a paper, but this is the best time to introduce what is going to be discussed in the paper – after the actual paper has already been actually written.

At this step, there is clarity in purpose to present what has already been presented (once due consideration has been given to the content that has been drafted).

12. Have the paper go through a final English review by a professional editor

This step presents the final opportunity to find any spelling, grammar, or comprehension lapses in the paper that has just been drafted.

How to write table? Here are some valuable tips:

1. Design table to fit the columns of the journal. Most journals have two columns per page, some have one column, and a few have three colums.

2. Keep the table simple and easy to follow.

3. Do not waste large amounts of empty space in the body of a table. Large amounts of space in data section usually indicate poor design.

4. Round the data to the nearest significant figures.

5. Arrange the columns to facilitate comparison of the data. Comparison between adjacent vertical column are easier than between horizontal rows.

6. Ask yourself: Is the table necessary? Data that can be described equally well in the text should not be tabulated.

Here are the anatomy of table.

To achieve the readability, firstly you should know the anatomy of a figure in paper. Below are example figures (typical line and bar graphs) with the various component parts labeled in red.

1. Line Graph

2. Bar Graph

I hope the brief explanation help you know anatomy of a figure in a paper.