Overview of the Research Process

Before you begin...

Understanding the research process is important to your success in college. If you are new to the research process, this site will help guide you through the steps to completing a research assignment or complete research paper.

There are several key steps involved in the research process, beginning with the selection of a research topic and the development of a tentative thesis, which is the argument that you will be defending in your research paper. If your instructor has not given you a topic, then you will have to go through the steps covered in the section finding a topic. After you've decided on a research topic, you can set out to find sources of supporting information. Such sources may include — but are not limited to — books, journal articles, newspapers, web sites, interviews, etc. Be sure to read the section on writing notes, a step that will later help in organizing material and properly documenting sources. The next main step in the research process involves the actual writing of the paper, report, or project. Working from your notes, you summarize, paraphrase, and incorporate direct quotes into a draft. This draft can undergo one or more content revisions before a final draft is completed. Next, it is essential that you "give credit" to your sources through endnotes, footnotes, a bibliography, or just simply a list of sources. As a final step, the written document should always be edited prior to submission.

Next: Understanding a Research Assignment