The 4 Basic Steps Of The Academic Research Process
The academic research process comprises a series of closely related actions and proceedings that have to be carried out by the researcher. Each academic research process requires patience. There’s no measure whatsoever that you’re on the right path and that your research process is the best. This process is an art category on its own. So, if you’re about to begin the research process of your academic paper, you’re at the right place.
We’ll provide you with an easy four-step guide that outlines a simple and effective way to write an academic research paper. Contingent on your familiarity with the topic and the challenges you’ll encounter along the way, you may need to rearrange some of the following steps to get the best results.
Identify And Develop Your Topic
First things first, choosing a topic for your academic paper can be the most challenging part of your research assignment. Because selecting a topic is the initial step in every academic research process, the topic selection process must be done correctly. Here are a few tips that might help you when choosing a topic for your academic paper:
- Go with a topic within the parameters set by the assignment.
- Choose a topic that personally interests you and learn more about it.
- Pick a topic for which you can find a respectable amount of information.
- Select an original topic that hasn’t been covered yet.
Once you wrap your mind around a particular topic, it may help to state it as a question. For instance, if you’re interested in covering antipsychotic medications, you might pose the question “What are the pros and cons of antipsychotics?” as your paper title.
Do A Research For Information And Locate The Materials
Do preliminary research for information to determine whether there is enough information available for your needs and to set the context of your academic study. Check up your keywords in the appropriate titles in your library’s collection, in other sources like newspapers, databases, and internet search engines. While doing this, you may find it necessary to tailor the focus of your topic in light of the resources available.
Once the direction of your research gets more evident, you can begin locating materials for your academic research paper. If you’re looking for books, you can do a thorough subject search in the Alephcatalog. Once you discover a particular book on a library shelf, take a closer look at the books located nearby, as similar items are usually shelved in the same area in libraries.
Moreover, use the library’s periodical database to find newspaper and magazine articles on the subject matter. Many of these articles in the databases are readily available in full-text format. Finally, use search engines like Google, or Bing, to locate materials on the Internet. Once you find a website with helpful subject links or articles, you can utilize the Reverse Whois API to uncover more domain trends, connected websites, distributions by company or institution, emails, directories, and more to enrich your sources list and be as prepared as possible to write a killer academic paper.
Make Some Notes Along The Way
Look up the resources you’ve chosen, consult with them if possible, and note the information that may be useful for your academic paper. Ensure that you document all the sources you consult, even if there’s a good chance that you may not use that particular source. The article’s author, title, publisher, URL, and other information regarding the source may be needed later when creating the bibliography.
Write Your Academic Paper And Cite Your Sources Correctly
Start by organizing the information you’ve collected. Afterward, the next step is the rough draft, where you get your ideas on paper in an unfinished fashion. The rough draft step will help you organize your thoughts better and establish the form your final academic writing will take. After this, you can revise the draft version as many times as you’d like to create the last version.
Also, give credit where credit is due, or, in other words, always fully cite your sources. Citing the sources used in your paper serves two primary purposes: it gives appropriate credit to the writers of the materials used, and it permits those who are reading your paper to duplicate your research and locate the sources you’ve listed as references. The APA and the MLA styles are two popular citation formats you can use.
Final Words
At last, once your research process is done, and your paper is written, you need to proofread the piece you’ve created to ensure that there are no errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. With this, your research and paper are done, and the message you want to deliver to the reader is ready to be transmitted.
