My Step by Step Guide to Writing a Research Paper

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In this video, I'll go through the step-by-step process I use when writing a research paper.

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Hi, everyone! This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll go through the step-by-step process I use when writing a research paper.

Every person is different, but I think there are some basic steps to writing a good research paper -- and it doesn't involve just typing out as many words on a topic that you can possibly think of. Now, these are fairly generic steps, but I think they would apply the majority of research papers give or take a couple. If your paper is 8 pages or longer, I would strongly urge you to plan out the steps for your paper at least 4 weeks in advance. You can watch my video on planning out big projects or research papers. I'll give you an idea of how long I think most of these steps would take for a 15 page paper and you can adjust accordingly based on your assignment and general research and writing speed. Here we go:
1. Understand the instructions - read through the instructions for the assignment thoroughly and make notes! It's obviously really important to understand exactly what the assignment is asking for and as early as possible. You don’t want to find that you don’t understand something when you are down to the wire. Plus, if you have questions, I guarantee that you are not the only one! Oh, and if you want to get a good grade -- you need to follow the assignment instructions even if you think its a dumb assignment. I have learned that the hard way. Take the 30 minutes that it takes to understand the assignment completely.
2. Choose a topic - After you've figured out what the assignment is asking, you’ll need to pick a topic. You can pick one out of the air, but I would suggest choosing a couple of topics that seem interesting to you and then doing some superficial research just to make sure that there is enough interesting information out there to do a paper on. If you don't do this, you may have to change your topic later in the process after you've wasted considerable mental energy. This step can take 1-2 hours depending on how much research you do on your possible topics.
3. Build a basic outline - Now that you have a topic, you are going to build a basic outline for your paper based on the instructions given. I’m going to do a video on some of the outline tools that i use, but there is no need to be fancy — just make a list of the section and some bullets underneath them to give more detail. At this point, you haven't fully researched yet, so this outline won't be very detailed until you do. For example, I did a paper recently that asked me to explore a concept and gave several areas that needed to be addressed in the paper: a definition, two related theoretical perspectives, how the concept has changed over time, current practice or policy issues, and how these issues might differ for two countries. Based on these instructions, i put together the following initial outline. If your teacher or professor provides exemplars or examples of exemplary papers from previous classes, i always use those to help me build a good outline. I try to ignore the content since I don’t want to be overly influenced by someone else’s work, but I will not hesitate to completely rip off a good structural design for a paper! As long as it flows with the way I think. This should take you no more than an hour.
4. Make a list of relevant research studies - now you are going to use all of your resources, online and otherwise, to make a list of studies and articles to read for your paper. You can use Google Scholar or if your learning institution has a library portal, you will have even better access to research journals and other scholarly resources. I have a video that covers how I keep and reference this information, but for this step, you are just gathering a giant list of things to read that may be relevant for your research. Compiling this list can take 2 to 4 hours. . . .

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99.99% of people watching a YouTube video on how to write a research paper need to FINISH it in LESS THAN 24 HOURS.

bobvilla
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"You need to plan 4 weeks in advance"
Me: Staring at the due date coming up in 2 hours and 18 minute

deeci
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These comments has made me feel better about my 5 page paper, due in 10 hours. Seriously though, I really need to plan a lot better and learn how to deal with distractions!

shaun
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8 page paper= 4 weeks
1.Read instructions and make notes-understand the assignment thoroughly
2.Find a topic
3.Make an outline (structural design)
4.Find scholarly sources
5. Read research and make notes
6.categorize all notes and highlights
7.make decisions (mind maps) which helps create subtopics
9. Collect relatable quotes to help strengthen arguments
10.Write first draft
11.Edit paper, fix APA, sentence structure, format all citations
12. Find another reader ( writing advisor)
13. Implement any feedback
Finally submit!

Thanks sooo much!🙏🏾

Tatiana-qpgc
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Write for 6 hours straight? Wow, I can't write for 20 minutes straight without using my pens as drum sticks...

questionable-ethics
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Me: Happily scrolls through the comments because I can relate with most of them
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My research paper: TIME REMAINING: 4 HOURS 13 MINS
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Also Me: Comments his procrastination and still 0 progress

seuiski
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Write for 6 hours straight? I can't even finish watching this video because my attention span is so low. I procrastinated about watching Tim Urban's TED talk about procrastination! This was beautifually laid out though, whenever I start, this is genius!

beautepley
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0:59 Understand the Instructions 1
1:34 Choose Topic 2
2:05 Build Basic Outline 3
3:15 List Relevant Research studies 4
3:45 Read Research & Take Notes 5
4:54 Categorize Highlights 6
5:38 Decisions by Mind Map 7
6:25 Fill Outline with Research 8
6:49 Write Draft 9
7:35 Edit, Fix APA, Fill References 10
8:23 Find 2nd Reader 11
8:49 Final Edit 12

amazingchee
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A lot of people are talking about how they have their essay due in >24 hours but I have learned from my mistakes and am getting started before it is even assigned.

stu
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welp my research paper is due in 7 hours....

chey
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4 weeks!....i have a 12 page paper to write in 4 days :(

eb
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I have to write 3 pages on how vibrations affect an ant's memory, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY INFORMATION ON THIS

ardenamarelo
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the amount of people procrastinating LOL, I learnt a lesson or two over the semesters and have a month to do this paper so I don't feel as bad, but RIP to ya'll.

shazellehoule
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I feel stressed out and I don't have a research paper to write. This was a random video for me. I saved it into a writers playlist encase I want to write a research paper. Can't imagine I ever will, but I know gold when I see it. 👍👍

Zenas
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Thank you!
Im 37 doing my masters, and up until now I left all my papers open and had rough hand written notes, this has changed my life haha

michaelbridges
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This is a wonderful, usable guide to getting my seniors to approach their research paper with more ease.

patriciarawlings
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This is my first research paper. I'm a highschool sophomore and my paper is on "Covid-19 Vaccine Appreciation" for my BioGeoChemical Systems class and it's due in 12 hours. Wish me luck 🤞🏿😅 I'll tell you what I got when I get my grade

bookslooklikehooks
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I never thought of using a spreadsheet to organize my research and quotes. Thanks for the tip!

patricagillett
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13 days left to write a 20-page, single space, and 25 required scholarly reviewed sources, and what I do? Watch YouTube videos instead of reading 🙄🤦‍♀️ this is a great video 👍

PattyViviendo
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This saved me! THANK YOU!
I have been planning my research/reading/writing schedule for the past couple of months, but I have been struggling with organizing my research and making it fit into my outline, since I have dozens of sources and only 10 pages max to argue my thesis. Your idea for categorizing and subcategorizing quotes/data in a spreadsheet made everything click for me! Thank you so much for this! I'll be watching your other relevant videos right after I finish this one.

amandaj