8.1 Research Basics
In college writing, research means finding information, ideas, and answers from sources (anything that is published or produced). And it also means analyzing and sharing what you’ve found. Whether you are a scientist, an artist, a paralegal, or a parent, you probably perform research in your everyday life. When your boss, your instructor, or a family member asks you a question that you do not know the answer to, you locate relevant information, analyze your findings, and share your results. Locating, analyzing, and sharing information are key steps in the research process. By developing these research writing skills, you will prepare yourself to answer any question, no matter how challenging.
Reasons for Research
When you perform research, you are essentially trying to solve a mystery—you want to know how something works or why something happened. In other words, you want to answer a question that you (and other people) have about the world. This is one of the most basic reasons for performing research.
But the research process does not end when you have solved your mystery. Presenting what you have learned from research can be just as important as performing the research. Research results can be presented in a variety of ways, but one of the most popular—and effective—presentation forms is the research essay. A research essay (also called a research paper) presents an original thesis about a subject, and it develops and supports that thesis with information gathered from a variety of sources.
Writing a research essay is an ideal way to organize thoughts, craft narratives, or make arguments based on research, and share your newfound knowledge with others.
Research Writing and the Academic Essay
No matter what field of study you are interested in, you will most likely be asked to write a research essay during your academic career. For example, a student in an art history course might write a research essay about an artist’s work. Similarly, a student in a psychology course might write a research essay about current findings in childhood development.
At first, writing a research essay can feel daunting. After all, researching and writing a long essay requires a lot of time, effort, and organization. However, writing a research essay can also be a great opportunity to explore a subject that is particularly interesting to you. The research process allows you to gain expertise on a subject of your choice, and the writing process helps you remember what you have learned and understand it on a deeper level.
Research Proposal
A research proposal is a brief document—only one typed page—that summarizes the preliminary ideas and current progress regarding your research essay. Your purpose is to formalize your plan for research and present it to your instructor for feedback. Your research proposal should be in complete sentences and paragraphs (and lists of information where appropriate), and should use MLA format.
A research proposal should address all of the following (the order of this information is allowed to change):
- Briefly summarize the subject and its issues, controversies, or context.
- Briefly explain of the significance or relevance of researching this subject.
- State your main research question about the subject.
- List any sub-questions related to your main research question (consider who, what, when, where, why, and how).
- State your working thesis.
- State the kinds of sources you plan to seek, or the types you have found, and/or your plan for finding sources.
The working thesis is not set in stone. You can and should change your working thesis throughout the research writing process if the information you find does not support your original thesis. Never try to force information to fit your argument. For example, suppose your working thesis is this: “Mars cannot support life-forms.” Yet a week into researching your subject, suppose you find an article in the New York Times detailing new findings of bacteria under the Martian surface. Instead of trying to force that information into fitting your argument, such as arguing that bacteria are not life forms, you might instead alter your thesis to something like, “Mars cannot support complex life-forms.”
Research Writing in your Professional Life
The ability to write an effective research paper is a practical skill that will benefit you throughout your professional life. Whether you’re designing a new product, determining the most efficient way to carry out a task, or examining trends and challenges in your field; research skills help inform your decisions. In many cases, you’ll also be expected to present your findings in a written report. Employers place a high value on individuals who can write with precision and clarity because clear, professional communication is critical in the workplace.
Research Terminology
- Primary Source: the original source of information (relative to your focus). Example: If you’re writing about free speech in the Constitution, then the First Amendment to the Constitution is your primary source. But this is relative to your focus, so if you were writing an essay about Wikipedia and how it influences common consensus on free speech, then Wikipedia is now your primary source.
- Secondary Source: a response to or study of the primary source, often engaged and in-depth. Example: If you’re writing about free speech in the Constitution, then an article written by a scholar that analyzes the First Amendment would be your secondary source.
- Tertiary Source: a discussion of secondary or primary sources, often less engaged by way of summary. Example: If you’re writing about free speech in the Constitution, a Wikipedia page about the First Amendment would be a tertiary source.
- Abstract (as a noun): a summary of a long article, often associated with scholarly or academic sources
- Peer-Reviewed (as an adjective): a source that has been subjected to critique by other experts in the field (often called “scholarly”)
Additional Resources
- You can play around with this module from the Excelsior Online Writing Lab Research | OER Commons.
Attributions
The Writing Textbook by Josh Woods, editor and contributor, as well as an unnamed author (by request from the original publisher), and other authors named separately is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First-Year Writing by Melanie Gagich & Emilie Zickel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
This chapter has additions, edits, and organization by James Charles Devlin.
