Choosing a topic and developing an idea for a paper are the first steps in writing a research paper. There are many ways to go about choosing a topic. Sometimes a list of topics is provided; other times the student has to come up with a topic idea on her own. Posing a question is an effective way of identifying a topic. For example, say the subject matter is family law. A question in this area is "What are the factors a court considers in deciding who gets custody of a child?"
Next, a researcher locates general background information on a topic. Use indexes to find periodicals, catalogs to find books and search engines to find Internet sources. The trick is to get a general sense of the topic area and identify areas of debate. For the family law topic example, an area of debate is what constitutes the "best interests of the child."
Not all information sources are reliable. Researchers must take steps to ensure the validity of their information. The sources should be credible, timely, objective, written by someone with recognizable credentials and published by a reputable source. Preferable sources are those published by a university or government press.
Outlining is an important part of the research process. It allows the researcher to gather her information and ideas to provide focus for the remaining research. The outline explicitly states the thesis for the paper and each of the key points to address. The outline identifies sources of support for each point and notes gaps where additional sources need to be added.
The gaps in research identified in the outline need to be closed with further research. The key is making sure each point is fully supported. Conflicting sources should not be ignored; they should be refuted by other reputable sources.
Research papers are written in stages. The first stage is to compose a rough draft -- getting something down on paper is the goal. The next stage is to flesh out the draft to ensure the writing is polished and all points are fully supported.
Research papers must have proper citations for all materials used. Citations follow a standard format, and different formats are used for different disciplines. For example, psychology uses the American Psychological Association format. The format dictates how to credit a source within the body of the paper and at the end of the paper. A failure to cite sources for any ideas not belonging to the writer is plagiarism.