One of my favorite things in college was having to write research papers. (Yes, I know I am very strange). I didn’t enjoy doing it in high school, but once I got to college, I fell in love with it. 

Sometimes, for some of my tougher classes, I would write a research paper so that I would better learn a topic I was struggling with!

I have always enjoyed writing, but writing a story or a blog is very different than writing a research paper. For my current job, I’ve written proposals, safety documents, and my boss even asked if I would write on a grant committee. Being good at writing a document is a very good skill to have. 

That being said, writing research papers can be very hard. Here are my tips on how to write a good research paper – but these can mostly be applied to any other type of document!

1. Read the rubric/guidelines

I know, this seems like it would be common sense. It’s always what I did first when given an assignment. But, as someone who now grades student papers, the amount of times I have docked someone 20-30% of their grade, not for a badly written paper, but because they did not follow the instructions I gave them (headings, in text citations, etc.) is insane. One of the easiest ways to get full credit is to read and understand what your professor wants. And you can often find this information in the rubric given with the assignment. 

2. Start the assignment as soon as you can

I really hate waiting until the last minute when it comes to my assignments – especially large assignments like research papers. It’s always better to start these assignments as early as you can – even if you just plan out your method of attack. For example, a biochemistry paper that I wrote for one of my classes needed models of proteins. I was given amino acid sequences, which had to be sent off to online servers that returned a 3-D model. One of these servers was so backed up that it took 3 weeks to get my results back to me (and we had about 3 ½ weeks for the assignment). If I had waited to submit the sequences, I would not have had the information by the time that the paper was due. 

I would much rather get everything done as soon as I can, so I have time to fix any issues that arise and so I am not stressing last minute because I’m struggling to get everything done. 

3. Keep track of all your references

While first gathering information to start your paper, it can be very hard to keep track of your references. At the very least, include a link to where you got the information when you’re throwing it all into one document. This way, when you’re formatting your references, you know where you got every piece of information, and you don’t get busted for plagiarism (something that you really don’t want to happen!).

4. Download Mendeley

It doesn’t have to be Mendeley, per se (although it is free), but you do need to invest in a citation generator of some sort. Trust me, it will really help you get everything consistent. I was introduced to Mendeley during my first year at my 4-year university (technically my junior year), and I fell in love with how it works. I know others who hate it and like Zotero instead. Just find one that you like – it will save you so much time in the long run. It also runs faster than the ones that you can find on a website. Those work too, but if you’re looking for speed and ad-free, downloading a free citation generator is your best bet.

5. Check your generated citations

This probably goes without saying, but you need to double-check your Mendeley (or other program)-formatted citations. As we all know, technology is not always reliable. The program could have the wrong format for the date. For instance, you may just need the year, when the program actually input the month and year. Because you didn’t look before turning your paper in, you just lost 10% of your grade. Citations are arguably going to be the easiest grade of your paper – you don’t want to be losing points because you didn’t take five minutes to run through your references.

6. Grammarly is very useful

You’ve probably seen a Grammarly commercial by now, whether it’s on TV or YouTube.  The best thing about Grammarly is that they offer a free version, which is really helpful (in my opinion, it’s far better than what you get with Microsoft Word). Granted, the paid version is better (it helps detect tone and plagiarism). I would suggest that you consider trying the free version, and if you like it and want more of the features, upgrade to the paid version. It even integrates into your web browser, helping you write emails and edit Google Docs. Make sure to check with your school as well, because some colleges offer a free subscription to their students for the premium version of Grammarly. It’s at least worth checking out!

7. Work on the paper a little bit every day

I know you have a bajillion other things to do with your day, but if you can work on your paper at least a little bit every day, you will slowly chip away at a large assignment. Even just 15 minutes a day will help. Or, you could do my method. Spend a couple of days only working on the paper until you have a good draft. Give it a rest for a couple days, go back and proofread, then submit it!

8. Do all of your research first

Don’t worry about the formatting, the flow, or where things will go at the moment. For probably about ⅔ of the time allotted for the assignment, you need to be gathering all the information you need. For the remaining ⅓ of the time, you put together all of the information that you have obtained and double-check to make sure you don’t have any holes in the paper. The goal of a research paper is the research (should be obvious, but thought I’d point it out).

9. Have someone else look over it before you submit

I have found that having someone else look over my paper (even if they don’t fully understand what I’m talking about), helps point out errors such as weird commas and how the paper “flows”. Something I would highly recommend when writing a paper is having someone else read over your draft. If you can get your professor to (some of them will), that would be best, because they know what they’re specifically looking for when it comes to grading you.

10. If you can find figures or charts, add them in (like molecule structures)

If you’re really struggling to fill your paper with information, add in structures, images, tables, and charts to help fill the space, if it’s allowed in the rubric. Now, don’t make your molecular structure the size of a whole page, but do put in images. Having images in your paper also breaks up large sections of text. 

11. Utilize Google Drive (or OneDrive)

I wasn’t a fan of Google Drive until I realized that you can access your documents anywhere from any device as long as you have internet. This made it really handy when I had to work on reports at my school in the lab with their computers. I didn’t need to email a copy to myself to review later. All I had to do was log in to Google Drive. You can integrate Grammarly into Google Drive, too! The downside is that Mendeley does not work with Google Drive, so you will need to rely on the Mendeley desktop app or website to help you with that (although you may find another citation generator that does).

12. Have multiple copies in multiple places 

It is always a good idea to have multiple copies of your huge research paper, just in case something happens to one of them. You don’t want to have to start over! Keep a copy in Google Drive, in Microsoft Word, and think about emailing yourself one, too. It’s better to have extra and not need them than to need them and not have them.

The biochemistry paper that I turned in for that class ended up being 22-pages long with over 30 references. One of the people in my class joked that I had written my Ph.D. dissertation (maybe one day I will). 

The thing about writing a research paper (as opposed to a discussion post, which will be another topic coming soon), is that it won’t kill you to put all of your efforts into it and come out with an amazing paper! I mean, what’s so bad about being an overachiever? After all, when you’re told to do ten problems, you might as well do twenty. It will make you learn so much more and you will come away with a grasp of the material (although if you’re told you have a max limit of 10 pages, don’t go over. Some professors don’t like overachievers for some odd reason).

Let me know below in the comments if these tips worked for you or if you have any of your own. Happy researching!

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