The absolute apotheosis of writing, the Research Paper, can be a tough assignment to handle for any student. If you get to chat with a student one-on-one to discuss research paper writing tips, this goal might not seem so overwhelming. We, however, don’t have just 1 student. We teach a bunch of students, and knowing how to engage every student can be difficult, especially when we decide to teach them how to write a research paper.
Many times, we might assume students know how to do research. Unfortunately, most kids don’t know how to approach the research process. Beginning strong is key! Below are some Research Paper Writing Tips for ANY student!
Keep reading for 5 Research Paper Writing Tips: Brainstorming!
Need help with Test Prep and Practice on Reading Comprehension? Check out this FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities to help students achieve success on standardized tests!
5 Research Paper Writing Tips for ANY Student
1. Brainstorm First
What is brainstorming in writing? So often, we want to just dig in and let our students fly free to research whatever they want; however, without delegated time to brainstorm and think, students can become overwhelmed. Most have never done any research beyond googling some info, checking out a Wikipedia page, or searching for a video on YouTube.
I can’t blame them though; trying to figure out what you want to write about is tough! That’s why we need to teach these research paper writing tips!
Have students start with a few questions:
- What do I like to do for fun?
- What are my hobbies?
- What am I passionate about?
- What would I do if money were not an issue?
- What have I thought about doing in the future?
- What are my goals in life?
- What do I enjoy spending my time doing?
- What are places I have thought about going?
- What makes me excited?
- What activities do I dream about getting to do one day?
By using the above research paper writing tips, they can chat about these questions, write down their answers, draw/sketch their responses, or just sit and reflect! The goal is to get students to brainstorm and become engaged!
2. Write Down The Brainstorming Ideas
Studies show that when people write something down, they remember it better! For my own retention, I need to write things down, because it helps me get my thoughts together. As I am writing down information, I start to see what is the good, great, or best piece of knowledge.
Amazingly, the process of writing helps to eliminate certain ideas that initially sounded good. Our students are creative, imaginative, and clever; they see things we as adults sometimes cannot. At a different stage of the process in utilizing the research paper writing tips, we might want to help guide them to a more suitable topic, but for now, let brainstorming just be fun! That’s an important part in utilizing these 5 research paper writing tips!
3. Narrowing Down The Topic
Choosing a topic can also consume a lot of time. You don’t know if you should choose one idea over another. Our students might be having the same concerns! They might have these questions:
- Which topic is easiest?
- Which topic has the most information?
- Which topic do I want to devote time to researching?
Our goal as teachers is to help guide our students to their minimum THREE most compelling interests, just so they are able to repeat these steps when you assign the “real” research paper. For now, we just want students to be able to think, reflect, and make decisions.
So many get stuck in the mire of possible topics that they never make a choice. Because of this, you might want to give them an out, like if they go home and come up with another brilliant idea, they can change course. That is okay. It’s all a part of the process of using the research paper writing tips!
Remember, they are middle and high school students, not PhD candidates. They can change their minds, especially in the infancy stage of research paper writing.
(See additional Research Paper Writing Tips in this Lesson Pack!)
4. Break Down Ideas
What we want for our students is clarity and focus! Choosing a topic that is vague or one-dimensional will not help students when doing actual research. To give students ideas, we can have them write about things they might be familiar with! Here are some examples:
- Best Restaurants: Ex. Big Louie’s, Happy Wok, Primavera Italia
- Famous Historical Figures: Ex. George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Madame Curie
- Cool Hobbies: Ex. Rock-climbing, Taekwondo, Ballet
As always, our goal is to spark our students’ creativity. If they can connect with a topic or think about topics they might not have considered before, that is awesome! We want them to simply get used to the research process. You might even have them put different ideas in a hat and pull out a student-created topic. Students can have fun challenging each other when it comes to topics!
5. Consider a Research Paper Writing Topic and Decide What To Research About It
Ultimately, you will want to have students choose a topic they are interested in but also has a ton of information they can research; however, if the topic is too broad, they may find themselves overwhelmed by researching too much! You can ask your students the following question: Which ideas about your topic do you think are “just right?” The research topic should not be too much or too little!
Here is a FUN activity you might use to teach this idea! Let students fill in the spaces 🙂
REFLECTIVE STUDENT WRITING ACTIVITY: Write down what topic you have chosen to research. Explain what you find interesting about that topic, why it is important to you, and what you plan to research about the topic.
Example Response: I plan to choose the topic of traveling because I find visiting various places around the country fascinating. You can travel to places marked by history like Independence Hall or stroll through art museums filled with amazing art! Most importantly, you can go by yourself, bring a couple of friends, or load up the family in the car and just go! I love having the freedom to leave my home and experience different foods, cultures, cities, and people. Everyone should get to travel at some point in his or her life. For this project, I plan on researching states I haven’t visited with a focus on famous landmarks and legendary local restaurants!
Practice Makes Better Using Research Paper Writing Tips
Remember, this is just STEP ONE for overall research paper writing tips. Tackling the research paper is a feat accomplished by the very few! Be brave, teacher friend, and know that if you give your students time and tons of practice, they can master this process. By starting slowly, they will feel more confident as you gradually introduce more difficult concepts. For additional help, join my email list by clicking on the freebie>>>
If you really want to challenge your students, CLICK HERE to learn how to teach a rhetorical analysis essay step by step!
Want activities that incorporate the above research paper writing tips? Check out my store, Kristin Menke-Integrated ELA Test Prep!
