The Research Process
The following steps outline a simple strategy for writing a research paper. Please note: you may need to reorder some of these steps based on your familiarity with the topic.
Research Process - Overview
Research is an iterative process of asking questions, finding information, refining your ideas, a...
How to Define a Research Question
Overview This document explains how to develop, refine, and evaluate a research question. A rese...
Gathering Background Information
Overview This document explains how to map the landscape of your topic before diving into comple...
Develop a Search Strategy and Find Sources
Overview Searching for academic literature is different from using Google. A simple web search g...
Evaluate Your Sources
Overview Not everything you find in a library database is perfect for your research, and not eve...
Read, Manage, and Synthesize
Overview Once you have found and evaluated a collection of high-quality sources, you must proces...
Write and Cite
Overview Writing an academic paper or thesis is the final step in the research process. It is th...