How do you write a research paper at university level?

Direct answer: A research paper answers a question you set yourself, using sources you find and weigh, whereas an essay can rest on the module's set texts. The risk therefore moves: a weak search or a vague question damages the argument before any sentence is drafted.

The best data on that risk comes from topics students chose, not papers they finished. Rinto et al. (2016) analysed what 1,478 first-year composition students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, entered into a topic tutorial in 2013 and 2014, and scored a random 10% sample of 145 responses on a three-point rubric. The authors report that "students struggle with defining an appropriate and feasible focus for their topics" (Rinto et al., 2016, p. 749). Only 31.7% of topics were exemplary for researchability, 40% for topic vocabulary and 6.8% for being arguable, while 24% of topics were rated at the lowest arguability level.

The pattern holds after drafting. Chisholm and Spencer (2019) scored 60 first-year papers, each three to five pages with three to five sources, on four source-engagement categories. The mean scores on a four-point scale were 2.75 for choosing sources that reflect the topic, 2.22 for matching sources to needs, 2.02 for incorporating information and 1.73 for ethical use, with an overall mean of 2.18, which the authors place in the developing band. The highest score went to choosing sources and the lowest to using them ethically, so selecting reading is not where these papers lose most.

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Direct answer: Put the thesis, one sentence stating the position the paper defends, near the end of the introduction. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center (n.d.-a) defines it as "a sentence that makes an assertion about a topic and predicts how the topic will be developed."

When you write a research paper, the thesis is the result of exploring sources, not the starting point. George Washington University (n.d.) states that the thesis is "not the starting point of your exploration, but the result of it", and advises writing the first full draft two weeks before the due date. Concordia University Library (n.d.) calls the single-sentence thesis "the most important one of your entire research paper" and the "controlling factor" for everything that follows. A thesis statement can be tested directly: a reasonable reader must be able to disagree with it, otherwise it is only a subject heading. Draft the sentence once your notes are grouped by claim, then reread it each time you add a section, because a thesis that no longer matches the body is the quickest sign of drift.

A worked example: from topic to thesis in three moves

Rinto et al. (2016) scored a topic as exemplary when it named who is affected, which aspect, which period and which place. Their lowest-rated examples include "How have pharmaceutical drugs affected children's behavior worldwide?" and "How has overpopulation affected the Earth in the world currently?" Their exemplary example reads "How has the increased use of social media affected the self-esteem of adolescents in the United States over the last 15 years?" The method below copies that move.

Source: method adapted from the Rinto et al. (2016) rubric; the topic is an illustration, not a finding.

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Direct answer: Build the paper around the points you want to make, not around one source per paragraph. A paragraph that walks through one source and then the next is a reading list in prose. Group notes by claim first, then decide which sources support which claim.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center (n.d.-b) gives the rule in a single line: "Build your essay around points you want to make (i.e., don’t let your sources organize your paper)". Evidence shows why the rule matters. Howard et al. (2010) read 18 first-year research papers and found no summary of a source in any of them. Patchwriting, a close but unquoted reworking of the source's wording, appeared in 16 of the 18 papers (89%), paraphrase in all 18, and direct copying in 14 of 18 (78%). The authors conclude that "these students are not writing from sources; they are writing from sentences selected from sources" (Howard et al., 2010, p. 187).

The larger Citation Project study found the same habit at scale. Jamieson (2013) analysed 174 first-year papers from 16 US institutions and reports that students worked from one or two sentences in 94% of citations, cited the first or second page of a source in 70% of citations, and cited only 24% of their sources more than twice.

Two checks you can run on your own draft

Two quick checks follow from those figures. First, a reverse outline: copy the first sentence of every paragraph into a list. If 6 of 10 openers begin with an author's name, 60% of the paper is source-led. Second, a page-spread check: list the page numbers you cite. If every one falls on page 1 or 2, you are mining sentences, not reading sources.

The repair is a sentence outline in which every line is a claim and the sources hang underneath. Using the remote-work thesis from above, with placeholders where your own sources go:

1. Claim: individual tasks speed up at home. Sources: [your anchor source], [source B].
2. Claim: coordination work slows down. Sources: [source C], [source B, page 14 or later].
3. Claim: the gap depends on team size. Sources: [source D].

A source that will not attach to any claim is either a claim you have not written yet or reading you do not need.

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Direct answer: Your brief sets the count; no general number exists. What matters more is whether one or two sources anchor the paper. In a pilot of 30 first-year papers, 21 (70%) showed an anchor source, and 6 of the 9 without one had significant rhetorical problems (Silva, 2021).

Before you write a research paper around several sources, pick the anchor. An anchor source is the work your paper argues with, extends or disputes throughout, instead of citing once. Silva (2021) drew a random sample of 30 papers from a national corpus of first-year research papers collected from 16 US institutions. Because 6 of the 9 papers without an anchor showed rhetorical problems, the missing anchor looks like an argument weakness and not only a citation weakness.

Spread matters as much as count. The Citation Project data reported by Jamieson (2013) show that 24% of sources were cited more than twice, so most sources appear once and never return. For a paper of 3 to 5 sources, as in the Chisholm and Spencer (2019) assignment, choose one source as the anchor, cite it in at least three separate paragraphs, and let the others test it.

Evaluating sources is part of the work, and it is the first defence against plagiarism by accident. Before citing a source, write one line for each of three questions: what does it argue, how does it know, and where does it sit relative to your claim? A source you cannot describe in one line is reading you do not yet need, and Concordia University Library (n.d.) advises confirming you have enough relevant sources before outlining.

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Direct answer: Most briefs expect an introduction, body and conclusion, with a method or literature section where the discipline requires one. George Washington University (n.d.) puts the introduction at one paragraph, or two for papers of eight pages or more, and body paragraphs at four to ten sentences. Your own brief overrides these defaults.

Not every discipline uses every section. A history paper may have no method section, while an empirical psychology paper is judged on it, so read a marked example from your own department before assuming a shape. Concordia University Library (n.d.) lists nine steps, from starting early and narrowing the topic to proofreading, and places the outline after the notes are grouped into a logical sequence.

Time matters as much as shape. George Washington University (n.d.) recommends three drafts, a rest of two to three days before each revision, and a first draft two weeks before the due date. To write a research paper that is due in 30 days, the calendar below applies those numbers.

Source: timings from George Washington University (n.d.); the day split is an illustration.

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Direct answer: A second reader helps most early, while the question is still moving and before any structure has been built on it, because a weak question costs minutes to fix at that point. In a survey of 2,318 students, 71% found instructors' review of paper drafts helpful and 61% found separate deadlines for sections useful (Head & Eisenberg, 2009).

Put differently, 71% of the 2,318 respondents valued a lecturer reading their drafts, and 61% valued deadlines split by section. Once 3,000 words exist, a weak question is expensive to fix because the structure is built on it. A reader in your discipline can tell you whether the question is arguable, whether the source base is balanced or lopsided, and whether the thesis is doing work. Send the sentence outline from the worked example above, not the finished draft, so that comments arrive while a change still costs minutes.

Plan the reader into your calendar. If your department offers a writing centre or office hours, book the slot for day 12 of the 30-day plan, after the outline and before the first full draft. Through academic support at MAAS, a discipline-matched expert can also review your outline and drafts against the marking criteria your department will use, in Outline, Draft and Final stages. You write and submit the paper yourself.

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Chisholm, A., & Spencer, B. (2019). Through the looking glass: Viewing first-year composition through the lens of information literacy. Communications in Information Literacy, 13(1), 43-60. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2019.13.1.4

Concordia University Library. (n.d.). How to write a research paper. Concordia University. https://library.concordia.ca/help/writing/research-paper.php

George Washington University. (n.d.). A guide to writing a research paper. University Writing Program, Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. https://writingprogram.gwu.edu/guide-writing-research-paper

Head, A. J., & Eisenberg, M. B. (2009). Lessons learned: How college students seek information in the digital age (Project Information Literacy Progress Report). University of Washington Information School. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED535167

Howard, R. M., Serviss, T., & Rodrigue, T. K. (2010). Writing from sources, writing from sentences. Writing & Pedagogy, 2(2), 177-192. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v2i2.177

Jamieson, S. (2013). Reading and engaging sources: What students' use of sources reveals about advanced reading skills. Across the Disciplines, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.37514/atd-j.2013.10.4.15

Rinto, E., Bowles-Terry, M., & Santos, A. J. (2016). Assessing the scope and feasibility of first-year students' research paper topics. College & Research Libraries, 77(6), 749-764. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.77.6.749

Silva, M. L. (2021). Anchoring the first-year research paper: A pilot study of FYW student citation practices. Signum: Estudos da Linguagem, 24(1), 43-61. https://doi.org/10.5433/2237-4876.2021v24n1p43

University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center. (n.d.-a). Thesis and purpose statements. The Writing Center. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/processandstructure/thesis_or_purpose/

University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center. (n.d.-b). Writing a research paper. The Writing Center. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/academicwriting/planresearchpaper/

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This article is part of the MAAS Journal series for students. MAAS is an academic support partner: experts guide students through each stage of their own work, and we do not complete assessed work on a student's behalf.