Getting Started

Choose your topic, considering:

Your interests (for suggestions see Research Paper Topics)
Your assignments/discipline requirements
Time factors

Think about what types of information will help you answer your questions and how you might learn more about your topic

Interviews with someone who knows a lot about your topic (talking to a professor or a local expert on domestic violence)
Direct personal observation (studying the Massachusetts street McDonalds as an example of the impact of fast food chains on a downtown community)
Library research (see Choosing Materials, or talk with a librarian to discover some possibilities)

Begin gathering information and, based upon your findings, start refining your topic to a working thesis and developing an outline

Do you need to narrow, broaden, or change your focus?
Are you able to work with (locate, evaluate) the information you'll need in the amount of time that you have available?
Should you be incoroporating materials from class, such as course readings, lectures, or discussions?
If you're having difficulty, can someone (instructor, librarian, friend) help you refine your topic?

Follow through by finding and organizing information to satisfy your working thesis and outline.

Think about how this information pertains to your ideas (confirms, challenges, etc.)
Take notes, and begin to synthesize your ideas for the project.

Outline and prepare (write, design, etc.) a rough draft of your paper or project.

Set it aside for a while if possible and then reread and revise it
Consult with the Writing Center if you have questions about presenting your research in writing.
You may need to return to the previous step.

Final readthrough.

Check over your ideas, presentation, organization, grammar, spelling, citations, etc.

Be prepared to refine and re-think your approach to the topic. Everyone works differently, but many researchers change their topic throughout the course of their research--while they are reading an article about the topic and learn something new, or when they are writing their draft and discover they are interested in a different question or angle.