Success Center Tips for
Writing a Research Paper
Develop a writing context
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Formulate a question about your topic or problem (exigence) that you want to explore and
that readers will care about
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Strive to enlighten your readers’ thinking with your research question
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Use your research question to develop a thesis statement that provides readers with a clear
sense of your writing purpose
Conduct source evaluations to determine the reliability of sources
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Assess the currency of the publication date to determine up-to-date information
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Determine the relevance of the source to your topic and writing purpose
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Examine the qualifications of the author and publisher to determine the basis of their
authority
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Look for accurate references, links, and other supporting evidence
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Discover the author’s purpose and evaluate the associations he/she has with special groups
to determine the presence of bias
Evaluate digital sources critically
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Check the domain (.org, .edu, .gov, .com, .net, .mil) to answer questions about purpose and
authorship
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Ask questions about the author’s perspective
Evaluate information gathered from field resources
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Determine the relevance and accuracy of interviews, correspondence, surveys, and
observations
Read, analyze and synthesize source material (enter the conversation of experts); take notes
Prepare a summary
Determine what is important in one sentence using your own words when you want to
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shorten source material to record only the general point the author makes
Paraphrase when reading complex ideas to record the main points of each paragraph
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Use your own words without changing the meaning of the ideas and reduce the original
information by about one-third, but cover all of the main points.
Record someone else’s exact words accurately inside quotation marks
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Document your source inside parentheses at the end of each sentence for whatever you
summarize, paraphrase, or quote