Research Basics

Let's break down the research process a little. For college classes, and even for future jobs, you may be required to do research from time to time. While it's tempting to go straight to wikipedia, and that's a fine starting place, it's not a good ending place. In fact, you should NEVER cite wikipedia in an academic paper. So what should you do? How do you start to write a paper on a topic you know very little to nothing about? 

1. Start by googling the topic. It's fine to use wikipedia to begin with, just don't stop there. Read a few news articles from reputable sources. Look for .gov pages when you're doing policy research. Indeed, the U.S. Government is unique in the fact that the most detailed and reputable information on government, comes from the government itself (usually from government agencies or bureaucracies). 
2. Once you feel that you have a very basic understanding, move on to more academic sources. Google Scholar can be a great place to find academic literature on subject areas you're interested in. Your university library will also have a variety of resources, and the librarians can help you figure out where to start if you're feeling stumped on a particular topic. I know it sounds old fashioned, but reading even a few chapters from an actual book can do wonders (you don't even necessarily have to read the entire book, try starting with the intro and conclusion!). 
3. Once you find a few books or articles on your topic, you're set, you can begin to step into the academic "conversation." Go to the references section of the article or book you like, and skim through their citations. You'll suddenly have an enormous list of potential sources of information - other articles and books on the subject, all of which have their own citations that will lead your further into the subject. As you do this you'll likely begin to see patterns emerge. Writers are talking to each other, engaging with each others work, and responding to each others ideas.
4. As you're doing all this reading, take notes. You can use a word document, an excel spread sheet, or a notebook. But be sure you make note of the sources so you can properly cite them later. Personally, I like to create an excel workbook. I make a column for the article title, for the author, for the date written (and date accessed if a website), a column for a link if using a website, and a column for a 3-4 sentence summary. 

Once you feel like you've done enough background research and are ready to start writing, then it's time to get serious. Why does it matter if you write a good paper anyway? Because, there is a growing consensus that strong writing skills are necessary to succeed in the workplace. The reality is, I can't teach you how to write a strong paper in this blog post. But your university almost certainly has lots of resources to help you develop your writing skills, perhaps even a writing center. However, I will give you a few tips for getting started. 

1. The worst part of starting a new paper is staring at that blank page in front of you. So don't jump right in to trying to write a paper. Start with an outline. This can be extremely broad. 
2. Map out the sections of the paper: introduction, theory, evidence, analysis, and conclusions. Make a few bullet points under each section, and write one or two sentences about what you want to cover in those sections. 
3. Begin filling in more details, you can use bullet points for this still. Map out the argument you're trying to make or research you want to cite. 
4. Once you have your ideas down on paper, you can begin to fill in the sentences and turn your work into a real paper. And don't forget to delete all the bullet points before you turn in your paper. Which brings us to... 
5. Editing! The final step of any paper is editing. Have you read through your paper from start to finish to look for typos, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and so on? If this is hard for you consider changing the font to 18 point, changing the color of the font, or reading the paper out loud (remember to change everything back again before submitting). Doing these things can help your brain notice mistakes it may have overlooked before.