Write your thesis statement, which is a focused answer to a question. According to Diana Hacker, the best thesis statements answer a question that is narrow, challenging and based on facts rather than philosophical, moral or religious ideas. A good thesis statement might address treatments for a disease, the cause of a war, reasons to invest in a particular industry, or an idea for a new economic strategy. Bad thesis statements might make claims about the morality of a law or particular religious beliefs.
Research your topic using a variety of sources: the library, magazines, newspapers, the internet or interviews with people in relevant fields. Find out what other people think about the topic you're addressing. Look for scientific or empirical evidence to support your thesis and determine whether other prominent politicians, historians, writers or notable personalities have addressed your issue.
Make an outline for your report. Decide which facts you uncovered during your research best support your thesis statement and list them in the order you'll write about them. Keep clear records of where you found each fact or idea so you can cite them according to your style manual later on.
Write your introductory paragraph. Aim for a catchy first sentence that grabs the reader's attention. You might ask a bold question or start with a startling piece of information. Next, tell the reader how this question or information relates to the topic you're writing about. The last sentence of your introduction should be your thesis statement.
Explain why your thesis statement is correct, using quotations and facts gathered from your sources. Discuss them in the order of your outline. Try to discuss one idea or supporting source per paragraph.
Cite your research sources correctly according to the style manual requested by your instructor or boss. Common methods of citation including inserting numbers after borrowed facts (as in Chicago style) or parenthetical citations that contain an author's name and publication year (as in APA style). These intext citations will reference a resource listed in full at the end of the report.
Avoid plagiarism. If you quote material from another source, you can either restate it in your own words with a textual attribution ("According to the 2010 Congressional Report Card"), or you can use quotation marks and reuse short phrases from the text word for word, followed by your style manual's appropriate intext citation guidelines.
Write a one paragraph conclusion that summarizes the evidence you have shown and confirms your thesis statement. Do not bring up any new evidence or information.
Reread your report and ensure your sentences are crisp and easily understood. Reading them out loud can help you identify sentences that are wordy or too complicated.
Use your word processing program's spell check function to correct typos.
Make sure the ideas you discuss all support your thesis statement. Delete them if they do not.
Create your final works cited, bibliography or endnotes section, as directed by your style manual. This is a final summation of all the external sources you used to write your report.