How to write your first research paper in school

How do you turn what you have read into a research paper that makes a point of its own? For a first school paper based on existing sources, ask a manageable question. Examine what others have written and develop an answer that the evidence supports. Readers should be able to follow your reasoning and trace the material you borrow.

University writing centres and libraries offer useful guidance for doing this. Use their advice to suit your assignment and subject. This approach is for a paper that develops an argument from sources.

Start with the assignment and a question

Read the task and marking criteria before deciding what to write. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center recommends working out what the assignment asks you to do and what evidence you need. Check the length, source requirements and citation system. Ask your teacher about anything unclear. A sample paper may help you understand the task, but your own assignment's instructions take priority.

Then turn your interest into a question. George Mason University's Writing Center recommends a question that is clear, focused and substantial enough to require analysis. It must also be possible to answer within the space available. A broad topic gives you an area to explore; a question gives your reading a purpose.

Read around the topic before settling on that question. Seeing what others have already discussed helps you narrow the focus. You can adjust the question as your understanding develops.

Find sources, then examine them

Break your question into search terms. Cornell University Library recommends using library catalogues, subject databases and research guides to find relevant material. Use the resources available to you, change unhelpful search terms and ask for help when needed. Check the reliability of a source wherever it appears in search results.

Cornell's guidance on evaluating sources asks readers to examine the author, publication, evidence and treatment of other perspectives. Who produced this material? What expertise or interests might shape it? Does its date suit your question? A current issue may need recent evidence, while an older source may be relevant to a historical question. Even with a recent date or a respected name, you still need to check whether the claim is sound.

Look closely at the evidence for the argument. Follow its citations where needed and consider which perspectives are missing. Ask whether the material helps answer your question. Apply the same checks to sources that agree with you.

Give the paper an answer and a structure

As you read, develop a working answer. In an argumentative paper, this becomes the thesis: your position, which needs evidence and can be questioned. George Mason's guidance distinguishes such a claim from a topic or observation. Test the thesis against what you find. Revise it if the evidence calls for a different answer.

Use the introduction to set out the question and give readers the context they need. Explain why the question matters and state the answer you will argue for. The details depend on the subject. A dramatic hook or dictionary definition is optional.

Organise the body around points needed to develop that answer. A paragraph can state a claim, give context, present cited evidence and explain how the evidence supports the claim. George Mason presents these as flexible components. Use them to check what each paragraph does; the sentence pattern can vary.

Explain why each quotation or statistic matters. A summary tells readers the main points of a source. Analysis explains how you interpret those points and how they connect to your argument.

Make room for disagreement

Read for objections as well as support. George Mason advises presenting opposing views fairly, acknowledging valid points and explaining the strengths of your own argument. Choose objections that matter to your answer. Test your reasoning against a fair account of another position, rather than a version that is easy to dismiss.

This process can change the thesis. If an objection exposes a weakness, reconsider what you can reasonably claim. In the conclusion, return to the answer and explain why it matters in light of the evidence. A short paper generally needs only a brief recap. Keep any wider implications tied to the argument you have made.

Keep borrowed words and ideas traceable

Source tracking begins while you take notes. Purdue University's Online Writing Lab recommends recording the source and page alongside borrowed material. Include page details where the source has page numbers. Mark copied wording clearly so that you can distinguish it from your own notes later.

Wisconsin's guidance explains that borrowed wording must be presented as a quotation and credited. For a short quotation within a sentence, use quotation marks as well as a citation. Keep those quotation marks even when you name the author or list the work in a bibliography.

Paraphrasing requires understanding. Purdue recommends reading the passage and setting it aside. Then express the meaning in a new form and compare your version with the original. Use your own phrasing throughout, rather than swapping a few words for synonyms. Check that you have kept the source's meaning.

A paraphrase still needs credit. MIT's writing guide says to cite borrowed ideas and information unless they are common knowledge for the intended audience. Check whether a claim is common knowledge even if several websites repeat it. Credit the source of a borrowed idea when you express it in your own words, too.

Connect citations to the references

Use the citation system your assignment requires. Systems differ. Purdue explains that APA, for example, uses the author's surname and publication year in the text. For ordinary published sources, those citations connect readers to complete entries in a reference list at the end. Check that the citations and entries match.

The reference list and citations serve related purposes. Readers need to see which ideas came from a source as well as where to find that source. Citation-management software can help organise records, insert citations and create a bibliography, as Cornell University Library explains. You still need to check its output and whether the sources' claims are true.

Revise the reasoning before proofreading

James Madison University's Writing Center distinguishes revision from proofreading. When revising, reconsider the purpose, audience and main choices in your draft. Does the paper answer its question? Does each main claim have support? Does your analysis explain the connection? Seek feedback and compare the draft with the assignment again.

Then turn to sentence-level errors. Correct spelling and clear sentences matter, and your argument needs evidence to support it. Check the reasoning, evidence and citations alongside the final presentation.

What to do with your next draft

Begin with the assignment, a focused question and notes that keep sources attached to ideas. Let the answer develop through reading, then revise until a reader can follow both the argument and its evidence. For practice, One Young India's Writing Studio includes research papers and academic essays with guides specific to those formats.