Writing Essays Research Papers

However, your research paper will need a working title.

This helps you to focus and helps others to understand what you are doing - for example, your lecturer/instructor or, if working at a higher level, those funding your project.

So the first thing to do is find out what referencing style is required (either by your university or, if you are writing a research paper for a journal, by that journal) and start to record the location of your sources using that referencing style.

Locate articles relating to your subject and check out the bibliography for further reading which you might be able to locate online without passwords.

You should therefore return to this section when you have completed your paper.

You then need to pick a concise, accurate title for your research paper that will make readers want to look at your content, help others find your paper in databases, and explain exactly what is covered by the paper with a high degree of accuracy.

Your university may also provide you with access to a library and you can then search through their databases to find the most relevant and recent books for your research paper.

The best way to scan whether a book is relevant to what you're writing about is to look through the index.