Choose a topic. You'll be spending plenty of time researching and writing your paper. Choose a topic you find interesting and enjoyable. The best topics are debatable, and have opposing views. For example, lines are drawn on the use of affirmative action. If you chose to research affirmative action, you'd find many arguments on both sides of the debate.
Research your topic. Dig up as much information as you can. Only use credible Internet sources, meaning sites that end in .edu or .gov. For printed sources, use books, articles and journals from a University press. University presses only publish quality material that are fact checked and reviewed by other experts. Most other publishing companies don't ensure this much credibility in what they publish, so it's always best to stick to books and websites associated with Universities or the Government.
Narrow your topic. If you're writing a long paper, like 25 pages or more, you can potentially skip this step as it's mainly for shorter papers. If you're topic is too broad for your paper, you can focus on a specific area of that topic. Using affirmative action as an example again, you could choose to focus only on the way it's used in college admissions, or how it's used by employers when hiring. When narrowing a topic, your goal is to choose a focus that is suited for the length of your assignment.
Develop a thesis. Once you've researched and narrowed in on your topic, you can take a stance on the argument if you have a side you'd like to favor, but only after you've researched extensively. If you make a thesis too soon, you'll only research to prove it, which can lead to a flawed result. If you don't have a position on the topic, you can explore the topic with your paper, presenting both sides of the argument objectively.
Decide on the writing style to use. Research papers look slightly different depending on the writing style. For example, you cite your sources differently for research papers following the Modern Language Association (MLA), the Chicago Manual of Style or the American Psychological Association (APA). Usually, teachers assign the style, but if you're not writing for a class, you must choose one.
Outline your paper. This step is often skipped, but it's possibly the most important. The outline is your plan. Decide how and in what order to present your information, and put your quotations in place. You may find it helpful to insert your quotations first, and work your outline from there. This also saves you the trouble of citing sources as you write, which can disrupt the flow of your writing.
Write your first draft. If you've written a strong outline, this should come easy. Whenever you're stumped for what comes next, refer to your outline. Also note that an outline is your rough guide. You'll have to adjust as you write.
Proofread and edit your first draft. Correct your obvious grammatical errors, and rearrange your work. Sometimes sentences sound better in a different order, or you can explain yourself more clearly if you put paragraphs in a different order.
Write your final draft. You may want to skip this, but your final draft will be better if you rewrite it using your edited first draft as a guide. You've already researched and written it once. By now, you know exactly what to say and how to say it, so a complete rewrite, working from your edited first draft, will be your best work. If you need further proof, think of those times when you came up with the perfect statement five minutes after you could have said it. With writing, you get the opportunity to say it perfectly the first time.