Your way of writing 10 or more pages research paper (univ or college level)

As a student who will start my post secondary education this fall 2009, I am worrying on how I can manage to write 10 or more pages research paper. In high school the longest paper I wrote was less than 10 pages. I heard in univ/college students are ought to write 10 pages research paper or more.

English is not my first language. This is the reason why I am so worried about the level of English I will be in. I feel like I am not yet ready to grasp the English Level in university. This is one of the ways I think of to know what to do and expect in a University(Academic) Level of Education.

Can anyone give me an advice how to write multiple pages research paper in University(ACADEMIC) level. It would be better if you outline your steps of constructing your RESEARCH PAPER. Also, if you want, you can write your past experiences in univ/college. You can write any past experience related on writing/conducting research papers.


Here my own step-by-step way of creating a research paper

1. pick a topic from the list (if provided)
2. thesis (what i am going to write about)
3. gather sources related to the topic chosen (books, online, article, magazine etc)
4. read sources
5. write down important points from the source then SITE it (to avoid plagiarism)
6. review recorded important points (try to view it as a big picture) this is the time when I plan how my paper will look like (construction of the outline)
7. write intro, body, conclusion

This is the way to make a Research paper but I want know how others write their research paper. One of the way to improve my skill is to learn from YOU!

Have a good day everyone!

What an excellent question, and what a good plan! Generally, students find themselves with too little to say because they've not done enough research. So, your steps 3-5 above are the keys: Collect enough sources, really read them, and take good notes in the process. Then, if anything, you'll find yourself with more than enough to say.

If you do find yourself falling short, page-wise, don't pad your paper with excessive quotations or endless repetition of the same points. Instead, go back to your sources for arguments or examples you may have neglected to note on your first reading.

Here's a tip for when you get to stage 7: Unless you are already absolutely certain of everything you're going to say, write your body first and then go back to write your introduction and conclusion. By doing this, you will ensure that your introduction and conclusion match each other and are consistent with your body. (Sometimes students go astray in longer papers by writing an introduction, saying more or different things than they planned in their body, and then writing a conclusion that is out of sync with the introduction.)

Writing a ten page paper isn't really all that more difficult that writing a three page one. Once you have your three or four main points in defense of your thesis, instead of thinking of each one as something to be dealt with in its own paragraph, treat each one as the topic of its own mini-essay. That is, you can use a standard five paragraph essay structure as a basic building block to construct essays of just about any length you choose. That's why teachers emphasize the format so strongly throughout school, even though no one in real life, or even in undergraduate studies, ever has to write a five paragraph essay.

This is pretty much how you should deal with any goal that seems too large for you to handle -- break it down into smaller steps you know you can deal with relatively easily. Obviously, you still need to have the basic material upon which to draw your points, so the research-doing and note-taking is definitely necessary, but it helps if you are thinking about the material from the outset as something divisible.

Here's my process:

*Pick a topic. Or at least pick a topic that I think I want to write about. I have changed direction during research.
*Familiarize myself with the subject. This is cursory research that helps me decide what I want to delve more into. It might be as brief as reading a Wikipedia article.
*Make a list of points I want to cover. Sometimes this is in list form. Sometimes this looks more like an outline.
*Research. My teachers like varied sources. I will do a significant amount of research on the Internet because the format is so easy, but I will look for primary sources on the Internet as well as sources that are a little more academic in nature like professional journals. I get books from the library, but I don't read them cover-to-cover. Instead, I will use the index to locate pertinent quotes and supporting material. This may sound silly, but sometimes I will get books from the kids' and young adult sections of the library. They provide a concise and complete summary of the subject and often lead to other resources. The simple books will help keep me on track and help me to include important points.
*I write a thesis, a topic sentence for each of my paragraphs, and a conclusion. This acts as a outline of sorts and helps me to keep on track when it comes to supporting my thesis. The topic sentences for each paragraph act as mini-thesis statements, tie the paragraph to the main thesis, and provide transitions. Depending on the type of paper, I will have a paragraph that acknowledges the opposing viewpoint and then refutes it.
*I work on each paragraph as its own entity (its own mini-essay as Sean says). I support the topic sentence with examples, quotes from experts in the field, and analysis of my own.
*Then I write the introduction and conclusion. The introduction will introduce the subject and make a claim. The conclusion will restate the thesis and recap the support.
*I proofread, look up any words that I am unsure of in the dictionary (whether that is for exact meaning or to see if I have the proper spelling for the word I intended—I have the tendency to mix up words like premier/premiere), and check punctuation. Some of my teachers provide grading rubrics and I look that over before and after I have done my writing to make sure that I haven't missed anything.
*I check my formatting. My Word program defaults the margins and indents to something that is not MLA. I will also go through and make sure that I am consistent—sometimes I will do two spaces after a period and other times I do only one. Usually, either way is acceptable, but I have to make sure I do it the same way throughout.
*I get an outside source to proofread for me. It is most helpful if it is someone who will comment on grammar as well as content. You really want someone who knows their stuff and is willing to be critical instead of just a rubber stamp. It especially helps if the person has access to the assignment so they can comment on how well you met the criteria. This is a wonderful site for getting feedback. Many universities have writing labs as well that are an invaluable resource. Your English seems very good, but if you are still an English learner, your university might have extra support or resources for foreign-born students. Make sure to allow plenty of time for proofreading, additional research, and revisions before your deadline. For a big paper (and they all are in college), I like to allow a week between when I think I am done and the deadline for revisions and feedback.

Most college classes have very few grades. It isn't like high school where the nightly homework and in-class assignments are counted toward your final grade. Some college classes will only have three grades—a mid-term, a final, and a paper. It is imperative that you do well on the papers. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification if you don't understand a part of the assignment. Profs are there (sometimes by appointment only, *grin*) to help you. If you are having a hard time putting together a paper, ask for guidance.

To elaborate on what I meant on the mini-essay thing:

Let's say you have to write a five paragraph essay for high school on, say, gun control. Your essay outline might look a bit like this:

Thesis: Gun control has little effect on crime.

Point A: Violent crime rates are often lower in countries with higher rates of gun ownership.

Point B: Gun crime may increase with gun ownership, but usually this merely replaces non-gun crime.

Point C: High rates of gun ownership may actually discourage criminal activity.

This would give you two to three pages of essay, by the time you had finished adding in statistics and examples to back up your points. If you wanted to expand it to a 10 page essay, though, you could treat each point as a mini-thesis.

Thesis: Violent crime rates are often lower in countries with higher rates of gun ownership.

Point A: By law, every Swiss male over twenty must own an assault rifle. Yet Switzerland has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe.

Point B: Mexico has very strict gun control, yet is plagued by gun violence.

Point C: The Czech Republic has fairly loose gun control compare to the rest of Europe, yet its crime rates are no higher.

So, instead of having one paragraph on the sub-topic of how violent crime rates and gun control go together in various countries, you now have three. If you do this for each of the points in the original essay, you will have tripled the length of the body of the essay. This allows you to explore your points in much more detail, and to add great depth to your essay, without having to master anything more than the writing structures you have been studying throughout your previous schooling.

I have read all of the replies on this thread. I appreciate all of your time and effort you spent on this. I am sure I am not the only one who will benefit from this enlightenment advice you all shared but to all other students like me who are feeling obscure on their English skill for the forthcoming post secondary school year.

To sum up all the ideas in this thread so far, I learned that in order to write more pages or to make an essay longer is to have "mini-thesis" from the points(mostly/usually three main points) of the main thesis. I can also makes a complete essay from each point main point of the main thesis. The main idea here is to expand the outline by adding supporting ideas to each point of the main topic.

It is easy to add more ideas to the major points of the main thesis IF you already know the topic. Meaning a person can easily add many points they want to make the research paper longer. What IF the researcher does not know anything about the topic. Doing research is utterly stressful because it gets confusing as explore different kinds of view about the topic.

I just found out my weakness. Organization skill is what I should work on. My problem now is to know how to start writing those "mini-essay" that will support my main points of the thesis. If you have tons of sources in front of you, it just get so complex, you dont know where to begin.

How can someone produce a thesis and its major points if the person does not know anything. If the person starts to do his research, all the articles start to mix together. How can the person know what to write if all he has are different views of the topic. How can he construct an the basic outline to know what to research and where to begin.

That just gave me another reason why I should be scared of going to university. I am not scared academically but the English level is holding me back.

You do research so that you learn a lot about the topic. Then you have plenty of points to draw on when you start writing the essay. You seem to want to reverse this process, and come up with a thesis and outline before doing your research. That will indeed make life difficult for you. Research first, then outline. As for the articles blurring together, there are several things you can do to combat that. Take notes on each article, for instance, noting where it overlaps with or contradicts others you have read. Break down the arguments made for or against different points of view, and decide for yourself which ones are stronger. As you learn more about the topic, and think critically about what you have read, you will likely find that you want to participate in the discourse yourself. This gives you a place to start with your essay writing.

A key element is picking a topic you are passionate about. Otherwise, it's very tough to put in the necessary time researching and writing.

Yes, that is absolutely essential. Even if you must write on an assigned topic, find something about that topic that genuinely interests you and then use that as the narrow focus of your paper. It's worthwhile to spend time on this aspect of pre-writing before plunging into other tasks. However, you may need to do some preliminary research in order to learn enough to know what will interest you.

Another key element is learning to make yourself interested in whatever topic you are assigned, as you often won't have that much control over what professors make you write on. In first year, you can't even be certain that the classes you take will be on subjects that interest you, until after you have been in those classes for awhile. Obviously, wherever you have a choice, you should choose that which is most interesting to you, but really, you should master the art of throwing yourself into something wholeheartedly even if it doesn't initially appeal to you.