Key takeaways
- A research paper makes a focused claim and supports it with sources or data, not just a summary of what others have said.
- Narrow your topic into a research question before you start reading seriously; it keeps your search efficient.
- Outline before you draft, and write the introduction last or revise it heavily at the end.
- Most research papers follow a recognisable structure: introduction, background or literature review, body or methods and results, discussion, conclusion and references.
- Leave time for revision in passes: argument first, then paragraphs, then sentences, then citations and formatting.
What a research paper is
A research paper is an extended piece of academic writing that answers a specific question using evidence from sources, data or both, and presents a clear argument about what that evidence shows. It differs from a report or a summary because it takes a position and defends it.
To write a research paper, you choose and narrow a topic, form a research question, gather and evaluate sources, write a thesis, outline, draft each section, then revise and cite carefully. The rest of this guide takes those steps one at a time.
Instructors use different names: term paper, research essay, research report or, in some courses, an argumentative research paper. The core skills are the same. What changes is length, the balance between sources and your own analysis, and whether you collect original data.
Step 1: Choose and narrow your topic
Good research paper topics sit at the overlap of three things: what interests you, what the assignment allows, and what has enough published material to work with. Start broad, then narrow by adding a population, a place, a time period or a mechanism.
| Too broad | Narrower | Research question |
|---|---|---|
| Social media | Social media and teenage sleep | How does night-time smartphone use relate to sleep duration among 13–16-year-olds? |
| Renewable energy | Community solar schemes in rural areas | What factors explain why some rural community solar projects in Kenya survive beyond five years? |
| The French Revolution | Women's political clubs, 1789–1793 | Why did the revolutionary government ban women's political clubs in 1793? |
A question works better than a topic because it tells you what to look for. For help shaping one, see our guide to writing research questions.
Step 2: Find and evaluate sources
Begin with your library's databases and Google Scholar rather than general web searches. Read a recent review article early: it maps the debate and points you to the key studies.
- Primary sources are original material: data sets, experiments, historical documents, interviews, literary texts.
- Secondary sources analyse or interpret primary sources: journal articles, scholarly books.
- Tertiary sources such as encyclopaedias and textbooks are useful for orientation but rarely belong in your reference list.
For each source, ask: who wrote it and with what expertise, when was it published, what evidence does it use, and is it peer-reviewed? Keep notes in your own words with the page number and full citation details beside each note. Doing this as you read prevents accidental plagiarism and saves hours at the referencing stage.
Step 3: Write a working thesis and outline
Once you have read enough to have a view, write a thesis statement that answers your research question. Then build an outline that assigns each section a job in proving it. Here is an example research paper outline for the sleep question above:
- Introduction: rising teen smartphone ownership; sleep guidelines for adolescents; thesis: night-time smartphone use is associated with shorter sleep among 13–16-year-olds, mainly by delaying bedtime rather than by disrupting sleep once it begins.
- Background: how adolescent sleep differs from adult sleep; existing explanations (light exposure, arousal, displacement of sleep time).
- Evidence for displacement: survey and diary studies on bedtime delay.
- Evidence on light and arousal: laboratory findings, and why their effects appear smaller in real-world settings.
- Counterargument: could poor sleepers simply use phones more? What longitudinal studies suggest.
- Discussion: implications for parents and schools; limits of self-reported data.
- Conclusion: restate the answer and its significance; suggest further research.
An outline does not need to be elegant. It needs to show that every section earns its place.
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Step 4: Know the parts of a research paper
Research papers in the humanities are usually organised by argument, while papers in the sciences and social sciences often use the IMRaD structure. The table shows both.
| Part | Argument-based paper | IMRaD (empirical) paper |
|---|---|---|
| Title page and abstract | Title page; abstract only if requested | Title page and abstract of about 150–250 words |
| Introduction | Context, problem, thesis, roadmap | Problem, gap in research, aim and hypotheses |
| Background | Literature or historical context | Literature review, often within the introduction |
| Core | Body sections, each advancing one claim | Methods, then Results |
| Discussion | Counterarguments and implications | Interpretation, comparison with prior studies, limitations |
| Conclusion | Answer, significance, wider questions | Brief conclusion or final paragraph of the discussion |
| End matter | References or bibliography | References, tables, figures, appendices |
If your assignment asks for a literature review section, organise it by theme or debate rather than describing one source after another. Each paragraph should compare what several authors found and show where your question fits.
Step 5: Draft the paper
Write the body first, while your notes are fresh, then the conclusion, then the introduction. Many people find it hard to know how to start a research paper because the introduction is the hardest part to write before you know exactly what you are introducing.
For each body paragraph, use a simple pattern:
- Topic sentence that makes a claim linked to the thesis.
- Evidence: a finding, quotation or data point, with a citation.
- Analysis: what the evidence shows and why it matters for your argument.
- Link back to the thesis or forward to the next point.
Analysis is where most of your marks come from. A paragraph that strings together three quotations with no commentary reads as a summary. Aim for at least as many sentences of your own interpretation as of reported evidence.
When you reach the end, our guide on how to write a conclusion explains how to finish without simply repeating your introduction.
How to write a research paper introduction (with an example)
A research paper introduction has three jobs: show why the topic matters, identify the specific problem or gap, and state your thesis or aim. A simple way to remember the order is context, gap, answer. Keep it to roughly 10 percent of the paper's length.
Here is an original example introduction for the sleep paper outlined above:
Most teenagers in high-income countries now own a smartphone by the age of 13, and many take it to bed. At the same time, surveys consistently show that adolescents sleep less than the eight to ten hours that sleep specialists recommend for their age group. It is tempting to connect these trends, and public discussion often blames the blue light from screens. Yet the research suggests a less obvious mechanism. This paper reviews survey, diary and laboratory studies to argue that night-time smartphone use shortens adolescent sleep mainly by pushing bedtime later, rather than by disrupting sleep once it has begun. If that is correct, advice that focuses on screen filters misses the more important target: the time phones are put away.
Notice what the paragraph does. The first two sentences give context, the third and fourth set up a common assumption and question it, and the last two state the thesis and why it matters. There is no dictionary definition, no sweeping claim about all of human history, and no list of every section to come.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Summarising instead of arguing. If a paragraph could be removed without weakening your thesis, it probably describes rather than argues.
- Over-quoting. Paraphrase most of your evidence and save direct quotations for wording that matters in itself.
- Ignoring counterevidence. Addressing the strongest objection makes your argument more convincing, not less.
- Starting too late. Research always takes longer than planned. Set mini-deadlines for the question, the outline and the first draft.
- Citing as an afterthought. Adding references at the end leads to missing sources and accidental plagiarism. Cite as you draft.
A simple timeline for a four-week paper
| Week | Focus | End-of-week checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Topic, question, initial reading | Research question and 8–10 promising sources |
| 2 | Focused reading and notes | Working thesis and detailed outline |
| 3 | Drafting | Complete first draft, however rough |
| 4 | Revision and referencing | Final draft, proofread and formatted |
Step 6: Revise, cite and format
Revise in separate passes, from large to small:
- Argument: does every section support the thesis? Is anything missing or off-topic?
- Structure: do paragraphs follow a logical order, with clear transitions?
- Paragraphs: does each have one main idea and enough analysis?
- Sentences: cut filler, fix unclear pronouns, vary length.
- Citations and formatting: check every in-text citation has a reference entry and vice versa, and follow the required style. Our APA format guide covers title pages, headings and references in APA 7th edition.
Reading the paper aloud, or leaving it for a day before your final pass, catches problems your eye skips over on screen.
Getting support with your research paper
Our research paper help is coaching and feedback on work you write: we help you narrow a topic, test your outline, and comment on drafts so you can see where the argument needs strengthening. If your draft is complete, editors can review language and referencing with tracked changes. The paper, the ideas and the words stay yours.