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Ten Essay Writing Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Research

Enhancing the quality of your work and the quality of your research will certainly impact your final grade. Although there is a myriad of books written on the topic of the research paper, following these hints is likely to generate immediate and positive results. These ten research tips may be applied to a wide variety of research resources.

Teachers drone about this endlessly, but it is truly the most essential advice when it comes to writing a research piece: begin sooner rather than later. Beginning early allows the writer plenty of time to follow all subsequent hints. Short cuts and night-before-papers seldom produce a result worthy of respect. Begin the assignment by accumulating investigative material and formulating a thesis from your resources. Generating a thesis right from the start will allow you to cull your material early on and choose only materials that directly relate. Time will also allow you to craft an outline, write at least one draft, and sift through your resources and materials.

Initiating a conference with the course instructor can prove an important step in the research process. This is precisely why instructors hold office hours. Meeting early with the instructor demonstrates that you are serious about the coursework, but more importantly, it can result in significant help for the project. The instructor may offer advice about improving your paper’s direction and steer you toward essential information, missed during the course of your research. No matter how confident you are in your choice of topic and direction, discussing your plan over with the person who will assess it can be a worthwhile step with positive outcomes.

A Detailed Essay Outline is the Hardest Part

Crafting a detailed outline will be the toughest part of the process if it’s done right—and it should be done in order to reap its many benefits. A solid outline provides the framework for the essay; it will contain its overall organization. The outline may list topic sentences as well as major examples. Some students find success by using the TEA method to craft both outlines and essays. Each body paragraph should include a topic sentence (T), an example (E), and analysis of that example (A). A good outline means lots of hard work, but it also means less work later when it comes to the more formal classwork. It provides the backbone of the research so that the subsequent text needs only flesh out the frame you already created.

Visiting the Library for Paper Sources Before you Write

An important step in the aspect of finding resources for the essay is visiting the library and possibly several online libraries. Plan to spend a significant amount of time gathering appropriate resources. Library resources could be books, but they could also be in the form of journal articles. Some material can be checked out, but it may also be necessary to make copies or order materials through the library’s interlibrary loan process. Ordering materials takes time so this step must be accomplished early in the process of gathering resources.

Referencing Online Databases for Scholarly Articles

Using reference databases to obtain scholarly material is an important step to increasing the quality of your resources. While researching on the internet is necessary, it is also fraught with questionable resources. Most schools and libraries now subscribe to online database reference resources. The materials contained in the databases are scholarly and reliable. This means that less resource assessment is needed. Trusted reference sources will absolutely result in a stronger essay.

Of course, the internet is home to many useful resources. For example, sites like bibme.com allow you to store your bibliographic citations and will easily help you create a final bibliography. The internet is filled with information—both useful and unimportant; it will require time to sift this information, but the internet is an important resource that is heavily relied upon. When obtaining information on the internet, it is a good rule of thumb to find that information elsewhere in order to verify its veracity. Always be sure to assess the sites where you find information; find out who is responsible for the information and what their credentials are.

It is also an important step to write a draft of your essay—at least one. Even Shakespeare wrote drafts for his plays. Seldom is anything ever written that requires no revision. Many writers feel a sense of freedom knowing that they will be able to “clean up” the work later; in this way, they get everything out in the open, during research, and can revise the content afterward. A single draft of the essay might be passable, but it seldom achieves the level of sophistication that a second or third draft achieves when you write..

Completing the Final Version Using Our Tools

When writing the final version, it can be helpful to use various tools available today. While grammar guides are not perfect, they do highlight parts of the paper that may need revision. Similarly, spell checks allow for a more polished body of content. Also, be sure to use online grammar guides or grammar books to check any questionable sentences or passages. A well-written paper is as important as a well-researched one; both aspects of the paper must support each other.

Proofread the final version aloud and, if possible, ask someone else to proofread it as well. Their questions might lead you to clarify passages inside the content. They might find typos that you and the grammar tools missed. Many schools provide writing centers that allow students to meet with a tutor or coach who may provide intensive instruction or simply solid proofreading skills. Again, this step requires time, but it will result in an improved overall project.

The use of organizing materials like note cards can also benefit the process. Quotes and bits of information can be written on note cards and later organized into the order you want them to appear in the paper. Even using a simple notebook dedicated to this method can help keep your resources organized. You might assign one section for tracking citations. Another section might contain one aspect of your findings. Another section might contain minor bits of information you want to include. A system of organizing resources is essential for keeping information in order.

These ten steps have the potential to drastically improve the nature of your essays as well as the quality of your writing. And, since writing and procuring information is fundamental to many careers, using these hints can also help in the workplace. Although they certainly require more effort, these tips offer ways to enhance the writing and research process.