Multicultural Magnet School

TIPS ON WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER

By Walter Mayorga

Below you will find a brief general list of guidelines to write the research paper for your science fair project. Remember that the ultimate goal of your research section is to explain the results of your experiment. Therefore, your information must be relevant (pertinent) and specific to your projectNarrow your topics. Decide what topics must be included in your research paper.

1. Narrow your topics. Decide what topics must be included in your research paper.

2. Research information. Look for sources on-line and in the library about those topics.

3. Read, highlight and take “brief notes” from these sources. Do not copy complete sentences; just write the facts. Make copies of the source pages you will be using so you can attach them to your paper.

4. Organize the information you collected to write your research paper. You can create an outline to help you organize the topics. See a sample outline on the next page.

5. Write your thesis statement. A thesis statement is a sentence that tells briefly and clearly the central idea of a whole report or research paper.

6. Write your introduction. This must introduce your thesis, or main idea for your research. It should also grab the reader’s attention. You can do this by starting with a question, a surprising fact or statistic, or a striking quotation.

7. Write your first draft. Write your draft using the outline as a guide to keep your information organized.

8. Write the body of your paper using the information you collected. Use only your notes to write the paper. Try to avoid looking at the original sources when you are writing your own. This will help you avoid plagiarism.

9. Write your conclusion. This is the end of your paper. Make sure this briefly summarizes the main points or ideas of your research paper.

10. Edit and rewrite your paper.

Tips on Writing Your Research Paper Mr. Mayorga’s Science Class 1