When writing papers, a large part of the work will involve research — lots of it. A high level of writing skills can only get you so far. Without comprehensive research, there won’t be anything for you to write beyond conjecture and personal opinion.

Importance of Sound Research

Research is very valuable regardless of what you’re writing. It takes on even more significance when you’re producing content for school, since sound research is what will fuel your arguments and ideas. Papers earn their credibility by demonstrating that your ideas are backed up with information from experts and other authorities on the subject.

Additionally, performing thorough research allows you to gain a broader understanding of the subject matter. Even if you don’t use every piece of information you come across during your research, it lets you form a more complete picture of the issue at hand, making your arguments more informed and authoritative.

Categories of Research

There are three ways to categorize most research tasks. Your first task is to figure out which of these your paper belongs in, so you can focus your research on the appropriate sources.

• Hard. This involves performing research from scientific and objective sources. You’ll be scouring for data consisting of proven facts, statistics, figures and other measurable evidence. A paper on the impact of modern biology to medical advancement will likely require research along these lines.
• Soft. This involves performing research on more subjective topics, including cultural and opinion-based sources. Research for a paper on the influence of 90s hip-hop on today’s youth should fall in this category.
• Mixed. Papers on politics and economics, among other topics, tend to require this variety of research, which involves drawing from both hard and soft research sources. This type of research is necessary when facts and figures aren’t enough to make your case — you’ll have to argue against strong opinion as well.

Finding Sources: Soft Research

There are plenty of online sources for soft research topics. Provided a website isn’t a shady hack job created solely for ad income (e.g. article repository sites), there’s a good chance you’ll be able to use it as source. Good places to look at include:

• Product review sites (e.g. CNet Reviews, ZDNet)
• Blogs
• Discussion forums
• Wikis

Rule of thumb: as much as possible, stick to larger, authority sites, rather than obscure ones with a very small audience. Larger sites tend to have better quality control since they’re exposed to a larger group of people. As such, there’s lesser chance for false information and misattributed quotes (chances are, transgressions will be called out quickly in the comments section). Do note, though, that even large blogs are notoriously under-edited these days, so you might need to verify some information yourself.

Wikis (e.g. Wikipedia) are a great first stop for information, but don’t stop there. The real value of wikis are the links to sources at the bottom. Well-researched wiki pages usually collate some excellent sources for information, which you can use for your own research as well.

For the most part, soft research will involve collecting information from respectable and, hopefully, authoritative sources. While soft research sources are not as subject to scrutiny as their “harder” counterparts, positive reputation helps.

Finding Sources: Hard Research

For hard research, you need to cite material produced by scholars, professionals and industry experts who carry the proper credentials. The campus library is a great destination for this type of information. If you want to try your work online first, you can check out online libraries and academic journal repositories. Websites to check out include:

• Intute
• Google Scholar
• Journal TOCs
• JURN Repository
• ROAR e-Prints

If you’re looking for current data and statistics for the US, these websites offer excellent sources of details:

• Public Agenda. This is a great one-stop source for finding out current public sentiments on a wide variety of subjects, providing access to press releases on hundreds of research studies. Even better, these aren’t reports from amateur surveys and polls — instead, these are professional-quality documents put together by highly-credentialed research centers and academic institutions.
• National Center for Health Statistics. For stats and figures on various health and medical issues, you can’t do any better than this website as a primary source.
• National Center for Education Statistics. For stats and figures related to education, such as student performance, literacy levels and dropout rates, this website should provide a definitive reference.
• US Census Bureau. We’re guessing you have a good idea of what “census” means. As you may have guessed, this is the definitive place to find information on national population, living conditions, economic standings and more.

For a list of official government publications, just punch “Uncle Sam” into Google Search and you’ll get a full list as the result. When seeking out peer-reviewed medical and scientific documents, the OJOSE facility is a great source for finding and downloading both free and paid journals.

For international statistics, you can look for agencies per country that correspond with the above organizations. You can also use GeoHive for geopolitical data, statistics on the human population and other interesting world facts. Same with archived news via Archive.org and Google News. Non-commercial consumer websites, like Consumer Watch, are also great for finding objective, unbiased information.

Filter And Validate

While researching, you’ll likely accumulate more information than you’re likely to need in your paper. That’s fine. After compiling a hefty amount of research notes, though, you want to filter the material, sorting out the legitimate and useful information from the rest of the pack.

Research that you end up using in your paper should be able to withstand close examination later. For information to do that, it has to come from a credible source and be relatively current compared to other findings in the field. You want to collect pieces of information that support, rather than contradict, each other.

Cite Your Sources

Every time you use a research item in your paper, whether paraphrased or in quotes, always cite the source. You might get away doing this when posting to blogs, but papers for school need to be properly cited. Not doing so is lazy at best and can be construed as plagiarism at worst.

Writing essays — lots of them — is an inescapable reality for many students, regardless of how natural writing comes to you. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a gifted wordsmith to turn out college essays that get high marks. If you turn your attention to a few things that can produce high rewards, you can ace those college essays even with relatively average writing abilities.

Formulating Your Main Thesis

Most of the time, essay assignments won’t provide you with a ready-made thesis. Instead, you’ll get instructions about the kind of essay to write, the general subject to write it in and other such guidelines, but you’ll need to decide about the actual main thesis for yourself.

In these situations, your first move should be to formulate the questions that you want to answer in the essay? Once you have that, you can proceed to decide on your hypothetical answers, each of which then becomes one of your candidate theses.

From there, you can evaluate each one individually on the way to deciding which main thesis could work best. Personally, I filter them through these criteria:

1. Scope. Which candidate thesis has a scope that’s just the right size for the word count required in the essay? Too narrow and you could end up grasping for words. Too broad and you’ll have to cut out too much of your discussion.
2. Difficulty. Some thesis candidates will stick out at you as being easier to argue for than others. If it tackles an important enough issue, isn’t an obvious conclusion (i.e. the opposite of a thesis needs to be equally valid) and has the right scope, why make life harder for yourself by choosing something else? Make sure you test and refine as the research proceeds, though, to ensure you end up with something you can adequately prove.
3. Depth. You want something that delves deep enough into the subject that you have plenty of options where to go. Most surface issues restrict you to surface arguments — those tend to feel a little underwhelming when used as a thesis.

Outlining

Some people outline. Others don’t. If you belong in the latter group, you might want to consider your stance. The longer and more complicated the essay, the more an outline can help, as it allows you to plan the paper’s structure before diving in to actually put together the draft.

Outlines allow you to think before you write. It allows you to test out various elements of the essay — from the sequence your ideas are presented in to the paragraph groupings to the progression of your logic — before you even write a single word.

When you write an outline, make it brief. The point is to put your general ideas on paper so that they may gain structure and nothing more. In programming, this will be a flowchart or a use-case, rather than the actual code, so there’s no real need to delve too deep into the nitty-gritty.

Drafting

The biggest advantage of writing an outline is it simplifies the drafting phrase a lot. When you draft without an outline, you’re basically thinking on your feet, building the structure, presentation and progression of all your points and arguments on the fly. Instead of focusing on just expressing your points, you’re worrying about the structure of your logic and the sequence of your ideas along with it.

We always recommend jumping right into the body paragraphs unless the introduction comes naturally. After you’ve done the body paragraphs, the right introduction should be a little clearer, as you have a more concrete idea of how the essay flows. Many times, students get stumped trying to construct the introduction as the first paragraph they write. You can avoid that by just jumping right into the meat of your discussion and going back to the introduction later.

Finish the draft as fast as you can, focusing on expressing your ideas according to the structure in your outline. Don’t second-guess anything you write. If you put something on paper, leave it on. When you finish the draft, you should have more than enough time to second-, third- and even fourth-guess yourself. Learn to control the urge to judge your work — it can save you plenty of time.

Introductions And Conclusions

You can strive for average in all paragraphs in your essays and still get good marks, provided your introduction and conclusion are strong. For the introduction, make sure it includes an attractive component — one that generates interest in the reader to learn more. For the conclusion, try to end strongly, ending with a statement (a quote, a statistic or a finding) that carries heavy impact. The stronger the conclusion, the more satisfying the ending of a paper usually becomes.

For both, make sure you write clearly. Avoid using complicated language and keep things as simple as possible. Being the two most important paragraphs, you want to avoid any chance for misunderstanding.

Good Practices For Writing Essays

1. Start early. The earlier you start brainstorming ideas for the essay, the sooner you’ll start getting work done. If you think you can finish an essay in three days, then begin with the work two weeks before deadline — people tend to overestimate their own abilities to finish essay assignments (yes, including you), so don’t be too cocky.
2. Don’t write from beginning to end. Instead, write whatever is ready to be written. If the second point is already clear in your mind and the first point isn’t, then do the second point first. Doing so saves you time and speeds up the drafting process.
3. Keep the overall purpose and organizational scheme in mind throughout the drafting. That way, you don’t ever lose track of what’s important in the essay whether you’re writing the introduction or a body paragraph. Done right, it could lead to a more cohesive piece of writing.
4. Revise extensively. When you revise, attend to the whole essay, rewriting it as a whole, rather than a series of isolated sentences. Do multiple passes, checking for different things each time in order to ensure you sculpt it to the best of your ability. This is where starting early really helps you — the earlier you begin work, the more time you’re going to have to perform revisions.

When in school, write like the academics do.  And we don’t mean the bad kind.  No, copying the dense and complex constructions some academics keel towards doesn’t serve anybody.   Instead, write the same way good academic documents look.  Here are the three areas to focus on:

1. Language.  Use language that’s objective and formal, writing in the third person and steering clear of self-referential pronouns as much as possible.   Jargon and technical language are allowed, provided you’re writing to an audience that will understand it (as is usually the case with academically-published material).   Being conversational is acceptable, provided you don’t devolve into being chatty.
2. Tone.  Adopt an unbiased tone, using reasoning to argue your case, rather than letting your emotions loose.   Personal beliefs, views and opinions shouldn’t make their way through any writing intended for the academe.  Instead, your words must rely on logic, evidence and sound reasoning.
3. Style.  Pretentious language may seem like a part of academic writing.  It isn’t.  Instead, using obscure words, long-winded phrases and unnecessary complexity are hallmarks of poor writing skills, rather than an academic writing staple.   Write concisely, tailoring your words to maximize reader understanding, just as you would in any other medium of writing.

If you did your research right, you will have written down all pertinent source information next to each item.  For published sources, these will be the  title, author and publishing information for the book or article.  For videos, you probably want the title, the director and the speaker (if there is one).   The point is to be vigilant when you put together your research notes.  Otherwise, you’ll end up with information you can’t properly attribute when writing your paper.

Thing is, no matter how careful you are, there’s a chance you will slip up and forget to properly note down your sources.  When that happens, here are some things you can do:

1. Pull a phrase or sentence from the text, then type it into Google.  If it’s from an online source, somebody reposted the work online or someone else quoted it, then you can find your source details right on the spot.  Try places like Google Scholar, Internet Public Library, Infomine and Questia, too, if a simple Google search doesn’t work.
2. If you have a good idea of which source the material came from, but not the exact page number, then just get the book and skim it until you find what you’re looking for.
3. If you don’t have any idea of where it came from, then try to trace back to the materials you’ve used. You can start by scanning those books, articles and journals that you have noted down properly.   Chances are, doing so could help jog your memory, too.

You’ve come up with a strong and compelling thesis statement.   You’ve done the research and started work on your paper.   Halfway through, you get an email from the library that this one book you’ve been waiting to borrow finally turned up.   You debated whether to even bother, before deciding that it’s probably a good idea to check.

Then it happened.  Upon skimming the book, you realized it contained information that directly contradicted your thesis.   In fact, the material, pretty much, breaks your primary arguments down.  What do you do?  Here are some options:

1. Fake it.  Pretend you never saw the information and hope that the teacher isn’t aware of it either.  As long as your essay doesn’t get submitted for an award, it isn’t likely to undergo a comprehensive review, so there’s a good chance the contradictory data won’t even come up.  Sure, your essay’s a sham, but, at least, you’ll pass the course.
2. Come clean.  Inform the teacher about the problem.  This is especially important since the discovery could end up creating a lot of problems for you.  Consult with the teacher about what you should do.  Chances are, you’ll be asked to revise your thesis, so you’ll need to evaluate how your previous research and what you’ve written so far can fit into the new topic.

You’ve spent the last week researching for your essay and organizing your notes.   It’s a lot of work, but it’s well worth it, as all that pre-writing stuff will make composing the actual draft a lot easier.

So you write.  And write some more.  As you discuss your main points and present your evidence, something becomes apparent: the evidence you’ve collected is weak.  What to do?

1. Do some more research.  Hit the library and the rest of your research sources again.  Since you’ll likely have a better idea of what information you need at this stage, this should go faster than your earlier research steps.
2. See how your current evidence fits in.  If you’re pressed for time and can’t go back to the research phase, maybe there is a way you can use all the weak evidence to create a strong argument.  One way of doing that is to tie all the small evidence together in a logical manner so that they make a unified argument.  An example that depicts all of them can do the trick, as well.
3. Rely on your reasoning skills.  Again, if deadline is fast approaching and you have no time to hit the books, see if you can take that weak evidence and fashion it into a stirring discourse.  We’ve seen it done.  Sure, you’re relying on rhetoric, but it could work, provided you can construct a really, really good argument.

Writing for university?  Then it pays to have a good idea of what kind of writing you’re supposed to be doing.  These six qualities are considered as central characteristics of academic writing.  It will serve you well to take note and apply them in your future work.

1. Formal.  Writing conversationally is fine.  Just don’t get too convenient.  Doing so can lead you down a colloquial path and, for the most part, it’s not that ideal for university writing.
2. Complex.  Don’t set out to be intentionally complicated.  However, do understand that academic writing will probably require more lexical density than your typical high school paper.
3. Precise.  Accuracy is highly valued in academic writing.  You can’t draw conclusions without the proper facts and figures to back it up.  As such, you need to be as precise as possible with both your arguments and the language that you use.
4. Objective.  Academic writing puts the emphasis on information and reasoning, rather than the writer or the reader.  It cannot sound like it favors one side over another without proper merit.
5. Explicit.  Implied relationships, connotations and meaning aren’t celebrated in technical writing.  Instead, you want everything to be explicitly stated.  Don’t give your readers room to misinterpret anything.
6. Responsible.  In academic writing,  it is your paper’s responsibility to justify any claims it makes.  No off-hand remarks are acceptable.  Either you can prove something or you can’t.

After entering college, most students face an adjustment period, as they get accustomed to the differences between high school writing and college-level papers.  That’s because the latter will often follow academic writing principles strictly (hence, why we recommend academic writing software over more generic versions).

What exactly are the main characteristics that define academic writing?

1. It is done “by scholars for other scholars.”  College, by definition, is a community of scholars – individuals who pursue knowledge.   Academic writing, then, consists of documents that you write for the purpose of reading and consumption by other people within the community, including your teachers, classmates and other members of academe.
2. It takes on topics that interest the academic community.   Since you’re writing for scholars, your topics should be about things that they will be concerned about.  That means, thoughts and ideas that fellow students and faculty members will find useful, as it furthers their own knowledge in a specific area.
3. It is geared  towards a better understanding of a topic and the issues surrounding it.    This is why you simply can’t summarize reference material for the duration of your college stay.  If that’s all you do, then you’re not contributing towards enlightening anyone in the academic community – you’re simply repeating what’s been said before.  Academic writing is about exploring new avenues for understanding and contributing to the pool of knowledge.
4. It should present the reader with an informed argument.  The simplest way to contribute  something “new” is to construct an informed argument about your subject.  You consider what is known about it, then determine how an issue should be treated based on that existing knowledge.

New to college writing?  Here are some tips to get you through the learning curve.

1. Keep up with your readings and attend class.  This is an obvious point, but one that must be stressed with regularity.   If you don’t do either one, you aren’t likely to have a lot to write about when those assignments come.
2. When researching, pay as much attention to the evidence as to the assertions.  Being published is no assurance that an argument is sound.  Look at the evidence, as well as the accompanying reasoning, and decide for yourself.
3. Know the difference between evidence, assumption and opinion.   Academic writing is hinged on evidence and the assumptions you can make based on them.  Unsupported opinion has no place in your papers.
4. Familiarize yourself with industry jargon.  Depending on what discipline you’re studying, you’ll need to brush up on the terminologies of the field, both so you can understand them in your readings and use them in your own work.
5. Pay particular attention to the requirements of each assignment.  Teachers will want you to develop a wide range of critical thinking and writing faculties, so assignments are likely to be quite varied.  Always make sure you understand what’s being asked before getting to work.
6. Learn the standards and rules.  If professors want you to follow specific style guides, familiarize yourself with them.  Always aim for clarity and conciseness.  Additionally, use a grammar checking program to clean up mechanical and structural mistakes.

People have written papers for school without turning to any software for help before.  If you wanted to, you can go the same old-school route.  However, having good software tools can make your writing process more effective, apart from cutting down on the length of time it requires:

1. Word processor.   You need a software to type up that paper on.  Both commercial programs like Microsoft Word and free titles like AbiWord should be able to get the job done.
2. Research software.  A software that lets you collate your research notes and organize them will be of great help.  If you want to arrange them in a visually logical manner, consider a mind mapping or diagramming software (there are numerous free titles available for both).   A free notes-taking software like Evernote can also be useful when you want to build a repository of research information.
3. Grammar checker.  Designed to fix your grammar and other writing mechanics, they can come as separate titles or integrated into your word processor.
4. Style checker.  Many independent writing software titles also come with a built-in style checker, which will give suggestions for improvement based on different style guides.
5. Writing improvement software.  Most all-in-one writing programs integrate grammar, style and spelling checkers in one bundle.  Some of the more advanced writing programs will carry extra features, such as facilities to help your identify wordiness and over-reliance on passive structures.