Thanks for the great ideas and advice for other students. Special thanks for the shout out to the library and academic success center!
What have you learned/what advice would you give to students writing research papers at NMCC?
I have learned to punctuate sentences and write in a form that is better for the reader to understand.
My only advice to a person writing a research paper is to make sure you pick a thesis that you believe in.
USE THE LIBRARY! Our librarians can help with all your research needs. Inter-library loans can provide information that you would not necessarily have right at your school.
Get out of habits like writing in the first person and use the research tools that the library provides. The library is where you will find the best research. Stay off Google and Wikipedia.
Save more than one copy of your drafts. Print them out each time you make some changes. Losing a research paper is one of the most stressful things that can happen and has happened to me. Do more research than you think you need. It may work its way into your paper. Always, when possible, go to the ACS [Academic Success Center] so someone can look over your paper.
Advice I would give students would be to use many sources of information. The library is a great resource and having someone in the academic success center proofread the paper can help to make the paper better.
Some advice that I can offer to other students who are writing research papers here at NMCC would be to make sure that you keep all of your research material organized and to make sure that if you have an outline follow it closely and continue to make changes to it as you go along with the paper so that they match up.
I have learned to use different resource materials, such as, databases and periodicals. I have also learned how to expand my searches by changing the way I word my search and terms. If there was any advice I would give to another student it would be to not be afraid of the research process and don’t feel stupid about asking questions. Our library is a great source of information and it is there to help you.
Don’t wait until the last minute! Get a head start on the research at the earliest opportunity, and always choose a topic that interests you.
Take advantage of all your resources. Use Noodlebib for your works cited page, use the library’s databases, and ask librarians for help. If you’re doing a report that touches on a subject that you learned in class once, ask the instructors for help.
I would give advice to clearly think your papers through and make them flow together. Having a paper that is unorganized and messy with no logic is not going to help anybody learn anything, let alone confuse them. Also, research as much as you can without using websites such as Wikipedia because it is unreliable and you will find you have different answers and research about a certain topic. The more research you do the better! Also give yourself enough time to have many drafts of your paper and to write it over a period of time rather than rushing through it.
Do not get overwhelmed. Writing a research paper can be a massive project and it can be overwhelming. Research can be difficult when you become overloaded with information. Take your time and pick only the articles that relate the most to your paper. You do not have to use every article you find. Back up your rough drafts on a flash drive and save them on your computer as well. That way you do not have to worry if you lose your flash drive or your computer crashes because you already have another copy. This means no starting over for you and at the end of the semester this could save your life.
Keep your goal in mind. What is it you’re looking for? What questions are you answering? What is it you want readers to remember or take away from your paper?
Make an outline! Research papers can get pretty lengthy, and you could be faced with more information than you know what to do with. An outline helps to keep you organized and on track.
Use www.noodletools.com for citing! It makes citing your research so much faster and easier. It even helps you with parenthetical references.
If given the option to choose a topic, be sure it’s something you care about. If you don’t care, then why should anyone else?
Remember to have order to your thoughts (paragraphs) and use transitions. You don’t want to jump from one area of interest to the next, because this will only leave them confused. Keep in mind you have had more time to learn about your topic and they are relying on you for the information.
1 comment:
Great comments. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
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