12 steps writing research paper pdf

How To Write A Research Paper

Step-By-Step Tutorial With Examples + FREE Template

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewer: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | March 2024

For many students, crafting a strong research paper from scratch can feel like a daunting task – and rightly so! In this post, we’ll unpack what a research paper is, what it needs to do , and how to write one – in three easy steps. 🙂 

Overview: Writing A Research Paper

What (exactly) is a research paper.

• How to write a research paper
• Stage 1 : Topic & literature search
• Stage 2 : Structure & outline
• Stage 3 : Iterative writing
• Key takeaways

Let’s start by asking the most important question, “ What is a research paper? ”.

Simply put, a research paper is a scholarly written work where the writer (that’s you!) answers a specific question (this is called a research question ) through evidence-based arguments . Evidence-based is the keyword here. In other words, a research paper is different from an essay or other writing assignments that draw from the writer’s personal opinions or experiences. With a research paper, it’s all about building your arguments based on evidence (we’ll talk more about that evidence a little later).

Now, it’s worth noting that there are many different types of research papers , including analytical papers (the type I just described), argumentative papers, and interpretative papers. Here, we’ll focus on analytical papers , as these are some of the most common – but if you’re keen to learn about other types of research papers, be sure to check out the rest of the blog .

With that basic foundation laid, let’s get down to business and look at how to write a research paper .

Overview: The 3-Stage Process

While there are, of course, many potential approaches you can take to write a research paper, there are typically three stages to the writing process. So, in this tutorial, we’ll present a straightforward three-step process that we use when working with students at Grad Coach.

These three steps are:

• Finding a research topic and reviewing the existing literature
• Developing a provisional structure and outline for your paper, and
• Writing up your initial draft and then refining it iteratively

Let’s dig into each of these.

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Step 1: Find a topic and review the literature

As we mentioned earlier, in a research paper, you, as the researcher, will try to answer a question . More specifically, that’s called a research question , and it sets the direction of your entire paper. What’s important to understand though is that you’ll need to answer that research question with the help of high-quality sources – for example, journal articles, government reports, case studies, and so on. We’ll circle back to this in a minute.

The first stage of the research process is deciding on what your research question will be and then reviewing the existing literature (in other words, past studies and papers) to see what they say about that specific research question. In some cases, your professor may provide you with a predetermined research question (or set of questions). However, in many cases, you’ll need to find your own research question within a certain topic area.

Finding a strong research question hinges on identifying a meaningful research gap – in other words, an area that’s lacking in existing research. There’s a lot to unpack here, so if you wanna learn more, check out the plain-language explainer video below.

Once you’ve figured out which question (or questions) you’ll attempt to answer in your research paper, you’ll need to do a deep dive into the existing literature – this is called a “ literature search ”. Again, there are many ways to go about this, but your most likely starting point will be Google Scholar .

If you’re new to Google Scholar, think of it as Google for the academic world. You can start by simply entering a few different keywords that are relevant to your research question and it will then present a host of articles for you to review. What you want to pay close attention to here is the number of citations for each paper – the more citations a paper has, the more credible it is (generally speaking – there are some exceptions, of course).

Ideally, what you’re looking for are well-cited papers that are highly relevant to your topic. That said, keep in mind that citations are a cumulative metric , so older papers will often have more citations than newer papers – just because they’ve been around for longer. So, don’t fixate on this metric in isolation – relevance and recency are also very important.

Beyond Google Scholar, you’ll also definitely want to check out academic databases and aggregators such as Science Direct, PubMed, JStor and so on. These will often overlap with the results that you find in Google Scholar, but they can also reveal some hidden gems – so, be sure to check them out.

Once you’ve worked your way through all the literature, you’ll want to catalogue all this information in some sort of spreadsheet so that you can easily recall who said what, when and within what context. If you’d like, we’ve got a free literature spreadsheet that helps you do exactly that.

Step 2: Develop a structure and outline

With your research question pinned down and your literature digested and catalogued, it’s time to move on to planning your actual research paper .

It might sound obvious, but it’s really important to have some sort of rough outline in place before you start writing your paper. So often, we see students eagerly rushing into the writing phase, only to land up with a disjointed research paper that rambles on in multiple

Now, the secret here is to not get caught up in the fine details . Realistically, all you need at this stage is a bullet-point list that describes (in broad strokes) what you’ll discuss and in what order. It’s also useful to remember that you’re not glued to this outline – in all likelihood, you’ll chop and change some sections once you start writing, and that’s perfectly okay. What’s important is that you have some sort of roadmap in place from the start.

At this stage you might be wondering, “ But how should I structure my research paper? ”. Well, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here, but in general, a research paper will consist of a few relatively standardised components:

• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology

Let’s take a look at each of these.

First up is the introduction section . As the name suggests, the purpose of the introduction is to set the scene for your research paper. There are usually (at least) four ingredients that go into this section – these are the background to the topic, the research problem and resultant research question , and the justification or rationale. If you’re interested, the video below unpacks the introduction section in more detail. 

The next section of your research paper will typically be your literature review . Remember all that literature you worked through earlier? Well, this is where you’ll present your interpretation of all that content . You’ll do this by writing about recent trends, developments, and arguments within the literature – but more specifically, those that are relevant to your research question . The literature review can oftentimes seem a little daunting, even to seasoned researchers, so be sure to check out our extensive collection of literature review content here .

With the introduction and lit review out of the way, the next section of your paper is the research methodology . In a nutshell, the methodology section should describe to your reader what you did (beyond just reviewing the existing literature) to answer your research question. For example, what data did you collect, how did you collect that data, how did you analyse that data and so on? For each choice, you’ll also need to justify why you chose to do it that way, and what the strengths and weaknesses of your approach were.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that for some research papers, this aspect of the project may be a lot simpler . For example, you may only need to draw on secondary sources (in other words, existing data sets). In some cases, you may just be asked to draw your conclusions from the literature search itself (in other words, there may be no data analysis at all). But, if you are required to collect and analyse data, you’ll need to pay a lot of attention to the methodology section. The video below provides an example of what the methodology section might look like.

By this stage of your paper, you will have explained what your research question is, what the existing literature has to say about that question, and how you analysed additional data to try to answer your question. So, the natural next step is to present your analysis of that data . This section is usually called the “results” or “analysis” section and this is where you’ll showcase your findings.

Depending on your school’s requirements, you may need to present and interpret the data in one section – or you might split the presentation and the interpretation into two sections. In the latter case, your “results” section will just describe the data, and the “discussion” is where you’ll interpret that data and explicitly link your analysis back to your research question. If you’re not sure which approach to take, check in with your professor or take a look at past papers to see what the norms are for your programme.

Alright – once you’ve presented and discussed your results, it’s time to wrap it up . This usually takes the form of the “ conclusion ” section. In the conclusion, you’ll need to highlight the key takeaways from your study and close the loop by explicitly answering your research question. Again, the exact requirements here will vary depending on your programme (and you may not even need a conclusion section at all) – so be sure to check with your professor if you’re unsure.

Step 3: Write and refine

Finally, it’s time to get writing. All too often though, students hit a brick wall right about here… So, how do you avoid this happening to you?

Well, there’s a lot to be said when it comes to writing a research paper (or any sort of academic piece), but we’ll share three practical tips to help you get started.

First and foremost , it’s essential to approach your writing as an iterative process. In other words, you need to start with a really messy first draft and then polish it over multiple rounds of editing. Don’t waste your time trying to write a perfect research paper in one go. Instead, take the pressure off yourself by adopting an iterative approach.

Secondly , it’s important to always lean towards critical writing , rather than descriptive writing. What does this mean? Well, at the simplest level, descriptive writing focuses on the “ what ”, while critical writing digs into the “ so what ” – in other words, the implications. If you’re not familiar with these two types of writing, don’t worry! You can find a plain-language explanation here.

Last but not least, you’ll need to get your referencing right. Specifically, you’ll need to provide credible, correctly formatted citations for the statements you make. We see students making referencing mistakes all the time and it costs them dearly. The good news is that you can easily avoid this by using a simple reference manager . If you don’t have one, check out our video about Mendeley, an easy (and free) reference management tool that you can start using today.

Recap: Key Takeaways

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. To recap, the three steps to writing a high-quality research paper are:

• To choose a research question and review the literature
• To plan your paper structure and draft an outline
• To take an iterative approach to writing, focusing on critical writing and strong referencing

Remember, this is just a b ig-picture overview of the research paper development process and there’s a lot more nuance to unpack. So, be sure to grab a copy of our free research paper template to learn more about how to write a research paper.

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• How to write an academic research paper

How to write an academic research paper.

Learn the steps to research, write, and revise a research paper.

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What is a research paper?

How to start a research paper., understand the assignment., 7 steps to writing an academic research paper., how to cite sources for a research paper to avoid plagiarism., tools for academic research paper writing..

A research paper is a genre of academic writing that presents a new insight or perspective based on a critical collection and interpretation of empirical evidence.

Academia runs on research, so it’s no surprise that the research paper is a common assignment across college classes. It’s an excellent way to help students develop research, critical thinking, and communication skills — especially in their chosen field. It’s also the type of writing that professors do as they conduct their own research and publish papers as articles in scholarly journals.

The research involves finding, selecting, and interpreting information from primary or secondary sources. Primary sources provide original data in interviews, scientific reports, works of art, diaries, and newspaper articles. Secondary sources take a step back to add commentary and interpretation in books, magazines, scholarly articles, and editorials. Even secondary sources can serve as empirical evidence when a researcher wants to know what others have said about the subject.

A research paper usually differs from a research report. A report is a type of expository writing that simply explains a topic. A lab report, for example, explains the findings of a scientific experiment. Research papers, on the other hand, do not usually require the researcher to generate original data. Instead, the research involves gathering and organizing the data already out there, then taking it a step further by making a persuasive argument about what it all means. A research paper’s argumentative and analytical nature also sets it apart from other kinds of expository writing that simply present everything there is to know on any given topic (think of a Wikipedia page or a textbook).

Research papers can take different forms depending on the discipline, topic, and the instructor’s or publisher’s requirements. Still, writers follow a similar process to achieve the final product, even in different contexts. The writing process itself is something that some scholars spend their lives researching and writing about. Decades of academic practice have helped scholars describe and teach the best way to conduct solid research and write about it persuasively.

How to structure your research paper.

The basic elements of a research paper appear in this order:

• Introduction
• Background section or literature review
• Body sections organized under subheadings
• Bibliography

Although they might go by other names, most of these elements are non-negotiable. The bibliography, for example, can’t be skipped. But shorter papers might be able to present sufficient background information in the introduction so that an additional section for it isn’t necessary. For other kinds of research, you’ll need to add separate sections describing your research methods, findings, and analysis.

Find out what your instructor expects or what other writers do in the same field. Instructors can usually provide good examples of student writing, or they can help you identify the right journal articles to imitate. Imitation (not plagiarism) is a great way to learn how to write in a new genre.

Dissertation vs. thesis — what’s the difference?

Dissertations and theses are both academic research papers. The difference is that a dissertation is required to get a doctoral degree, while a thesis is often required for a master’s degree or even some undergraduate programs. A dissertation is the equivalent of a book, while a thesis is the equivalent of an article. A research paper is usually shorter, although papers can evolve into full-length articles.

Getting started is the hardest part. But no one writes a research paper in a single day. If you plan and take it one step at a time, the project will feel slightly less overwhelming.

You might think the steps are obvious — first research, then write. But what that means is a little more complicated. You’ll do a lot of preliminary writing — taking notes, sketching ideas and outlines, or making mind maps to develop a research question and make sense of everything you’re learning. After you’ve landed on a thesis and started drafting, you’ll find that you need to do additional research to support the argument you want to make.

The basic steps to the writing process are to plan, research, and write — and then to plan, research, write, plan, research, and write again. So don’t feel discouraged if you find yourself back at the drawing board several times. You’re always building on what you’ve already learned.

The most important first step is to understand the assignment. Many students make the mistake of not reading the assignment description carefully or not asking questions early in the process.

Find out the required page number or word count. Academic journal articles are usually 20 to 25 pages, while papers for a semester-long course are generally half as long at 10 to 12 pages. Find out the number of sources to include and whether you need to cite them or discuss them at greater length. Research papers can cite anywhere from 10 to 100 references. It depends on the topic and your approach, so understand what the instructor expects.

Find out what type of information you should be gathering. Are scholarly articles the only option, or should you consider mainly primary sources? Your instructor might require that you include particular course readings or foundational texts.

Read the rubric or any other criteria the instructor will use to evaluate the final piece to understand the standards for success and any additional requests.

Don’t be intimidated or think you have nothing to offer. You can offer a new perspective and an important contribution even as a student.

Finally, understand your audience. You might be doing this research just because it’s an assignment, and you don’t think anyone other than your instructor will ever read it. You do need to satisfy the instructor as a secondary audience or judge of success. But your instructor is not your primary audience. Your reason for writing needs to be a little bit bigger. Once you find a topic and begin researching, you’ll find a community of scholars already asking similar questions and chiming in on the conversation. Or you’ll discover that a whole group of people lack specific knowledge that could benefit them somehow.

Don’t be intimidated or think you have nothing to offer. You can offer a new perspective and an important contribution even as a student. If the assignment description doesn’t identify an audience for you, start asking yourself questions about the people in the real world who would want to read the kind of writing you’re about to do.

Now that you know what a research paper is and what to expect from your research and writing process, you can break it down even more into manageable chunks or steps that you can follow in a linear order.

1. Select a topic.

Some students make the mistake of thinking they can select a topic and then just write everything they can find about it or that they should look for evidence that supports an opinion they already have. But the process has to start with more tentative exploration. Selecting a topic is more like choosing a city to visit, finding a research question is like picking a restaurant, and writing a thesis statement is like ordering a menu item. The point is to start broad — but not too broad — then narrow in.

Start by thinking about general topics you’re interested in. If you don’t already know what people are saying about it, find out. For example, maybe you like young adult literature. You just like the books and you’re not aware of any controversy, so you do some internet browsing and discover how the genre has evolved in just the last few decades. You wonder what factors have influenced its growth, who is really reading it, and what determines whether a book gets published. These questions are each excellent starting points to begin conducting your research. Some questions might lead to a dead end, and some will turn up more information than you can handle, so you adjust accordingly.

If you feel like you’re just inventing something to write about, you’re in good company. This writing stage was called invention in the ancient world by thinkers like Aristotle, who outlined questions to ask about a topic. (He called these topoi — places you can find things.)

How is it defined? Who defines it?

What are its parts, or what is it a part of?

What came before, and what will come after?

How has it changed, or how will it change?

How is it similar or different from something else?

What makes it possible or impossible?

Who are the experts on this topic?

Who disagrees or misunderstands this topic?

Who has firsthand experience?

What are other people saying about it?

What rules or laws impact this topic?

2. Begin research.

In the internet age, there’s endless information out there. When you begin, you might be overwhelmed by the information available on any given topic. That’s why the most crucial research skills include asking the right questions, knowing where to find answers, and interpreting the information legitimately and persuasively.

You’re going to do a lot of reading at this stage. While research papers rarely cite tertiary sources like encyclopedias, reports, and literature reviews, these are helpful resources for quickly getting familiar with a topic. As you begin to narrow, read the bibliographies of the sources that seem most relevant and notice the names and titles everyone is referencing.

University librarians are usually delighted to help students and often know more than instructors about finding what you’re looking for.

You can find some articles on Google Scholar, but you can find more by navigating your library’s online database. Academic institutions pay for access to journals and databases unavailable on the internet. These sources are often more credible and helpful — because peer review isn’t free. Physical and digital library archives also offer precious source material.

For many students, the most underestimated and underused resource is a librarian. University librarians are usually delighted to help students and often know more than instructors about finding what you’re looking for. If you can’t get to your library in person, search the website for a librarian’s phone number and email address who specializes in your discipline.

3. Evaluate sources.

Many students make the mistake of grabbing the first 10 sources that are vaguely relevant or, conversely, getting bogged down in endless research because they feel like they have to read dozens of articles and even books from start to finish before they can form an opinion. You can avoid these mistakes by learning how to evaluate sources quickly.

While most of what you find in library search results is likely credible, it might not be relevant to your question. Take basic steps to ensure that a source is credible such as looking up the author and publication. Then determine if a source is relevant to your question by assessing its publication date, likely audience, and purpose. Read the title and abstract carefully. If it seems promising, you can read the introduction and section headings or jump straight to the conclusion. Now you should know whether it will help answer your research question or provide evidence for your argument.

Once you’ve collected the sources you want to use, read them thoroughly and take careful notes. Keep track of the page numbers where you found important information, and as you jot down notes , distinguish carefully between source material and your ideas. You’ll be grateful later on when you start writing, trying to find critical information while avoiding plagiarism. Some researchers write source notes in the left column and their thoughts on the right. Another method is to save the article as a PDF and then edit the PDF with highlights and comments you can refer to later.

4. Write the thesis statement.

You’ve done your research and learned something new that no one has been able to see from quite the same perspective. Your thesis statement should state this discovery as an argument and summarize the evidence that supports it in one sentence.

A thesis statement should be debatable or contentious, meaning that not everyone will immediately agree with it or that it requires evidence to prove. It’s not a generalized statement about the complexity or value of a topic. Instead, it takes a clear and specific position.

A thesis statement needs to make an argument, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be controversial or emotional. It just needs to offer an interpretation and take a clear stance. It also needs to be coherent with the rest of the paper, meaning each section and each paragraph should support this statement.

5. Outline and write the body.

Some students make the mistake of jumping right into the first few pages with their most robust evidence before trailing off with weak sources and weaker analysis before finally filling in the last few pages with fluff and submitting the paper just before the deadline. Avoid these perils by outlining. You’ll discover where your ideas are best, where you need to swap out weak sources, and how the whole thing can be structured more clearly if you take the time to map it out and check that each section helps prove your thesis.

The outline can include section headings, topic sentences, bullet points summarizing sources, bullet points analyzing sources, and transition sentences.

6. Write the introduction and conclusion.

It can be challenging to write a good intro until you finish — when you’ve put so much thought into it that it’s easy to summarize.

The introduction should start by explaining your research question. Zoom out to give your readers context, but not too far. Openers like “Since the birth of civilization…” or “Everyone knows…” are common mistakes. You don’t have to make your topic relevant to every human on Earth, just the ones likely already interested. Summarize what they probably already know in just a sentence or two before explaining why your research question needs to be asked and answered. The intro can be more than one paragraph, but the thesis should be the last sentence. Be sure it’s clear to your reader what the point is and what they can expect from reading the entire paper.

It’s tempting to hurry through the conclusion or even forget about it. You might think the piece speaks for itself, and it’s not necessary to restate what you’ve already stated throughout. However, the conclusion that seems obvious to you as a writer might not be apparent to your reader. Plus, as you saw in your research process, many readers want to understand the conclusion of your research even if they don’t have time to read the entire thing. Don’t offer new information. Restate the thesis, summarize everything you have presented, take a clear stance on the topic, and provide a final insight or suggestions for further research.

7. Revise, edit, and proofread.

This three-part step is a crucial part of the writing process. It starts at the global level. Once you have a complete draft, you’ll discover weaknesses in your argument and research that might require a total rewrite of some sections. Ask for feedback from your instructor, peers, or other advisors to ensure they can follow your argument, and then be willing to make significant changes.

Once you’re confident that the content is solid, you can edit the paper at a sentence level. Rephrase to improve clarity and concision. You might need to reorganize and rewrite transitions so the paper flows logically. The last step is to review it again for a final proofread where you’ll need to catch any typos and grammatical or punctuation errors.

Citing sources involves more than following style guide conventions for your bibliography, although that’s important too.

Understanding proper citation practices before researching can help you avoid plagiarism. Keep careful track while researching and drafting to give complete and accurate credit to all your sources. Cite page numbers not only for direct quotations but also for ideas that you paraphrase. Don’t expect to add page numbers as a final step. You won’t remember.

Instructors care about formatting — a lot. When you present your work correctly, they get the message that you’ve put thought into the assignment.

Pay attention to citation practices in academic journals and be just as thorough. For example, a sentence like “Many experts agree…” deserves an in-text citation of those experts and page numbers where you discovered this info. In-text citations can include multiple authors’ names and page numbers at the end of one sentence.

Don’t drop direct quotes randomly without explaining where they came from. Describe the author or source briefly so the reader knows why the quote is relevant.

If you use direct quotes, use them sparingly. A paper that consists almost entirely of quotations and paraphrases doesn’t present original ideas, even when cited correctly. Instead, it is a reappropriation of others’ work. Avoid plagiarism by using direct quotes only when there is no other way to present the information and by giving preference to short phrases or single sentences rather than larger chunks of text. And of course, by dedicating at least as much space to your analysis.

Getting the formatting right in your bibliography can be a pain and feel like busywork to new students. But different styles have particular rules for a reason. Getting the punctuation and formatting right can make the difference between someone being able to find and access the information you cited or not. Incomplete, incorrect citations amount to plagiarism because they can stand in the way of attribution. For example, primary authors, journal versus article titles, and the issue versus volume number can be misconstrued if you don’t take the time to use italics, quotation marks, accepted abbreviations, and the correct order.

Use the many available tools and resources to make writing and research easier. Use a tool like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor to improve the clarity and style of your writing. Ask for feedback from peers, professors, and other trusted advisors by converting your Word file to a PDF they can mark up and comment on. The most successful writers seek feedback and revise. Go straight to style guide websites for answers to questions about formatting, or find answers to common questions on college writing center websites like Purdue OWL.

Should I use MLA or APA format?

Most research papers follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines. MLA is more common in the humanities, while APA is more common in education and science. Times New Roman, double-spaced, and 12-point font are standard. Avoid sans-serif fonts like Arial. Pay attention to the margin size, paragraph spacing, and block quotes. Some style guides offer specific instructions for how to treat first-, second-, and third-level headings — which you’ll need to distinguish sections and subsections. Add automatic page numbering.

Finally, be sure your final draft meets all the instructor’s requirements and that you submit it in a final, polished, accessible format.

Instructors care about formatting — a lot. When you present your work correctly, they get the message that you’ve put thought into the assignment. They will take your ideas more seriously. Most students today submit papers electronically instead of printing them. Avoid submitting your work as a Google Doc, Apple Notes file, or another format your instructor can’t access. Many instructors prefer or even require that students convert their files to PDFs because it ensures that formatting is locked in and viewable on any device.

Learn what more you can do with PDFs and explore the Adobe Acrobat tools that can help you draft and share your work.

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