Researchisasearchforanswers.Youhaveaquestion.Youwanttofindthetruth.Goodresearchgivesyouawaytofindit.Amethodisaplan.Itisyourmap.Withoutamap,yougetlost.Yourmethodmustbeclear.Itmustberepeatable.Anotherpersonshouldfollowyoursteps.Theyshouldfindsimilarresults.

Choosingatopicisthefirststep.Picksomethingyoucareabout.Agoodtopicisnottoobig.“TheHistoryofScience”istoobig.“HowStudentsLearnChemistryinOneSchool”isbetter.Yourtopicmusthaveafocus.Askaclearquestion.Yourwholeprojectwilltrytoanswerthisquestion.

Youneedtoreadwhatothershavewritten.Thisistheliteraturereview.Gotothelibrary.Usetheinternet.Findbooksandarticles.Readthemcarefully.Takenotes.Writedownthemainideas.Seewhatpeoplealreadyknow.Findthegap.Thegapisthemissingpiece.Yourresearchwillfillthisgap.Donotcopytheworkofothers.Usetheirideastobuildyourown.

Nowyoumakeyourresearchplan.Whatisyourmethod?Twomaintypesexist.Quantitativemethodsusenumbers.Youconductsurveys.Yourunexperiments.Youmeasurethings.Youusestatistics.Qualitativemethodsusewordsandobservations.Youtalktopeople.Youwatchagroup.Youanalyzetexts.Somestudiesuseboth.Thisismixedmethods.

Forasurvey,youwritequestions.Keepquestionssimple.Avoidconfusingwords.Testyourquestionsonafewpeoplefirst.Thisisapilotstudy.Itfindsproblemsearly.Youchoosewhowillanswer.Thisisyoursample.Thesampleshouldrepresentalargergroup.Ifyoustudyuniversitystudents,youcannotaskonlyyourfriends.Youneedafairselection.

Foranexperiment,youneedacontrolgroup.Youchangeonethingforthetestgroup.Youkeepeverythingthesameforthecontrolgroup.Thenyoucomparetheresults.Didthechangemakeadifference?Youmustbeverycareful.Donotletyourownhopeschangetheoutcome.

Forinterviews,youpreparealistoftopics.Youtalktopeople.Yourecordtheirwords.Youlistenmorethanyoutalk.Youwatchtheirfacesandhands.Theirfeelingsmatter.Youwritedowneverythinglater.Youlookforpatternsinwhatpeoplesay.

Youcollectyourdata.Dataareyourfacts.Theycanbenumbersfromsurveys.Theycanbewordsfrominterviews.Keepyourdataorganized.Useanotebook.Useacomputerfile.Labeleverything.Thedatematters.Thesourcematters.Neverthrowanythingaway.

Nowyouanalyzeyourdata.Lookatyournumbers.Whatdotheyshow?Calculatetheaverage.Findthepercentages.Usesimplecharts.Abarchartcanshowdifferences.Alinechartcanshowchangesovertime.Donotmakethistoocomplex.Thegoalistoseethestoryinthenumbers.

Forwords,theanalysisisdifferent.Readyourinterviewnotesmanytimes.Lookforcommonideas.Groupsimilarcommentstogether.Findquotesthatshowtheseideaswell.Youranalysisexplainswhatthesepatternsmean.Connectthembacktoyourresearchquestion.

Youmustdiscussethics.Behonestinallyourwork.Donotharmpeople.Keeppromisesofprivacy.Ifyouusesomeone’swords,donotusetheirrealname.Getpermission.Forsurveys,tellpeopletheycanstopanytime.Forexperiments,donottrickpeople.Youruniversityhasanethicsboard.Talktothembeforeyoustart.

Nowyouwriteyourpaper.Startwithanintroduction.Stateyourquestion.Explainwhyitisimportant.Describethegapinknowledge.Yourintroductiontellsthereaderwhattoexpect.

Next,writetheliteraturereview.Summarizewhatothershavefound.Showhowyourworkfits.Donotjustlistsummaries.Connecttheideas.Showtheconversationyouarejoining.

Then,describeyourmethod.Writethissectionwithgreatdetail.Whatdidyoudo?Whotookpart?Whattoolsdidyouuse?Howdidyoucollectdata?Howdidyouanalyzeit?Anotherresearchershouldbeabletocopyyourstudyfromthisdescription.

Presentyourresults.Showyourfindings.Usetablesandcharts.Describetheminwords.Donotexplainwhattheymeanyet.Justpresentthefacts.Beclear.Besimple.

Thediscussionsectioncomesnext.Thisiswhereyouexplainyourresults.Whatdoyourfindingsmean?Answeryouroriginalquestion.Connectyourresultstotheliteratureyoureviewedearlier.Didyoufindwhatyouexpected?Ifnot,whynot?Admitthelimitsofyourwork.Everystudyhaslimits.Maybeyoursamplewassmall.Maybeyouonlystudiedoneplace.Behonestaboutthis.

Yourconclusionisshort.Restateyourmainanswer.Suggestwhatpeopleshoulddonext.Suggestideasforfutureresearch.

Finally,listallyourreferences.Everybookandarticleyoumentionedmustbehere.Useaconsistentstyle.APAstyleiscommon.MLAisanother.Followtherulesexactly.

Writingishardwork.Writeafirstdraft.Donotworryaboutperfection.Justgetyourideasdown.Thenrevise.Readyourdraftaloud.Listenforawkwardsentences.Cutunnecessarywords.Makeeverysentenceclear.Checkyourgrammar.Checkyourspelling.Askafriendtoreadit.Afresheyefindsmistakesyoumiss.

Thegoalofresearchistoaddtohumanknowledge.Behumble.Youronestudyisasmallbrickinalargewall.Doyourworkwithcare.Beprecise.Betruthful.Thisisthewayofgoodresearch.Thisisthepathtoastrongpaper.