Writing a research paper is an important activity in composition courses. It helps prepare you for upper level work on the college level and eventually for longer papers that you might write if you decide to pursue a Masters degree or a Ph.d.

How do you incorporate research into your research paper?

Quotations should be incorporated into your research paper in order to support your thesis. Research should supplement your own independent thinking, but it should not replace independent thinking. A student effectively integrates research into a research paper by referring to statistics, articles, and even interviews/surveys in order to support his or her thesis. Here is an example of a quotation used in a research paper on chimpanzees and language (The Bedford Handbook, Boston: Bedford, 1971, pg. 631): "Psychologist H.S. Terrace, the chief trainer of a chimp named Nim, is one of the most formidable skeptics because he was once a believer. Ultimately, Terrace concluded that  in many cases, "the teacher's signs had prompted Nim's signs" (75). Terrace argued that cuing had also played a large role in Beatrix T. Gardner's training of the chimpanzee Washoe."

How do you organize research in your research paper?

 A research paper should contain the bulk of the research in the body paragraphs. There should be a systematic approach, and each quotation or statistic from research should be related to the thesis. It is important to use certain rhetorical strategies, such as definition, comparison and contrast, example and illustration, cause and effect, and narration, to organize research.  It is also important to organize into separate categories different types of research being conducted on a subject (this rhetorical strategy is division and classification).

How do you write an introduction?

An introduction should be interesting and should point out the central problem or issue addressed in the research paper. The introduction should not be too general, but it should not be too broad, either. There should be a clearly defined thesis statement. The introduction should list some of the main points that will be covered in the paper. It is often useful to revise your introduction after you write your first draft of your paper because the content of your paper might change as you revise and you rethink your original thesis.

Sometimes, writers insert their thesis statement into the second paragraph and use a brief ancedote (a story explaining a concept) in their introductory paragraph. Here is an example from the research paper on chimpanzees (BH, 630):

       One afternoon, Koko the gorilla, who was often bored with language lessons, repeatedly signaled "red" in American Sign Language whene asked the color of a white towel. She did this even though she had identified the color white many times before. At last the gorilla plucked a bit of red lint from the towel and showed it to her trainer (Patterson and Linden 80-81). At yerkes Primate Research Center, chimpanzees Sherman and Austin, who had been taught symbols for foods and tools, were put in separate rooms. To obtain food in different containers, one chimp had to ask the other for a tool, such as a wrench, by projecting symbols onto a screen. After some experimentation, the chimpanzees succeeded 97 percent of the time (Marx 1333).

       These and hundreds of similar scenes played out over the last thirty years demonstrate that the great apes (gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees) resemble human in language abilities far more than researchers thought.

Notice that the thesis sentence doesn't appear until the first sentence of the second paragraph. Using narration is often an effective strategy when writing a research paper.

How do you develop a thesis statement?

First, I would gather research on the subject that you are addressing before formulating a specific thesis. After you have gathered information and read the material you have, you need to think of your purpose. How have your views changed since you have gathered research? How do you feel after analyzing different points of view? Do you have enough research to support any argument that you might have? For instance, if you are arguing that Cheerios is a drug because of the claims made on the packaging, how do you define a drug? What legal definition of a drug is employed by the FDA? You should constantly refine your thesis as you write. You should also think of your reader's assumptions when you develop your thesis. For instance, you could write:

       Who would have ever imagined that a bowl of Cheerios could be considered a drug by the Food & Drug Administration? While according to the FDA's legal definition of a drug, Cheerios is a drug, most people consider Cheerios to be a food with important nutritional content. The borderline between drugs and food is not always clear, so the FDA should propose a new definition for a drug to avoid future conflicts between pharmaceutical companies interested in preserving their profit margins and companies like General Mills.

As you can see, the writer's thesis evolved. At first, the central premise the writer had was that Cheerios is a drug according to the FDA's definition of a drug. Later, the writer came to the conclusion that the legal definition of a drug needs to be refined in order to prevent further conflicts of interest.

How do you write a conclusion?

An effective conclusion should return to the original thesis expressed in your introductory paragraphs. It should summarize some of the research and should express your opinion and final conclusions on the research you have gathered. Sometimes, conclusions are open-ended because the writer feels the subject should be explored more deeply.

Here is the conclusion of the research paper on chimpanzees and language:

       Certainly no one expects any chimpanzee to perform linguistically far beyond the level of a very young human child. After all, a chimpanzee's brain is only one-third the size of our own. But the brains of the ancestors of Homo sapiens at some point were of similar size. Surely it makes more sense that an animal with whom we share 99 percent of our genetic makeup would at least have the inklings in its brain of the ability to communicate in language. And even in our human ancestors, the ability to communicate in language must have preceded language itself. Maybe I am "sentimental," to use Chomsky's word, but when I read about Kanzi's achievements, it is difficult not to believe that there is some commonality of abilities. (BH, 638)

How do you create an original title for your research paper?

A good title should spark your reader's curiosity, illustrate the theme of your paper, and invite critical thinking. Here is an example from the Bedford Handbook: "Between the Word and the Sentence: Apes and Language" (BH, 630).

Why should you avoid using "you" or "I" in a research paper?

In academic writing, it is conventional to avoid using first or second person because academic writing should sound more objective. There are many ways to rewrite a sentence if you have used "you" or "I." For example, if you write,

"You usually don't take classes as seriously as you should in college," you could change the sentence to: "Most college students do not take their classes as seriously as they should." If you tend to use the first person, it is often easy to omit using I. For instance, if you write "I think that Langston Hughes was a prolific writer during the Harlem Renaissance," this sentence can be written by simply stating directly: "Langston Hughes was a prolific writer during the Harlem Renaissance."