Types of Research Papers
Most research assignments ask you to engage in one of two approaches:
- Explore and evaluate (present an analysis)
- Persuade (present an argument)
Your professor may allow you to choose between these strategies or may ask you to use only one. If you’re not sure which type you should use, be sure to ask!
Analytic Papers
In a paper that explores and evaluates, you may present a specific analysis of a literary text, examine how a historical figure came to his or her beliefs, or analyze how changes in a particular animal’s habitat have affected its breeding patterns.
Your purpose is not to rebut another critic’s reading of that text, challenge another writer’s analysis of that historical figure’s growth, or disprove another experimenter’s theorem. Instead, your focus is on researching and presenting your own analysis of a set of materials or experiments.
Analytical questions
- How does Coleridge’s poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” use an extended metaphor for colonial exploration?
- Why was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stance against the Vietnam War so controversial in the Civil Rights Movement?
- What methods are available to governments and zoos to ensure the preservation of endangered tigers?
Argumentative Papers
In an argumentative paper, the writer takes a position on a debatable question. Here, you review the various arguments surrounding that question and present material arguing for a particular answer.
A good argument paper not only fairly and clearly presents the views of those with whom you disagree, but also points out where and how you believe those arguments are flawed.
In this paper, you need to show why your argument presents a stronger response to the question than the responses of others who might disagree with your position.
Argumentative questions
- Should employers be allowed to monitor the content of their employees’ email and internet browsing?
- Should the U.S. government subsidize the development of ethanol-based biofuels?
Planning
Patience is critical to constructing and finishing a solid research paper. Give yourself time. In some cases, when you have a class project, a college research paper requires ten to fourteen weeks of work, but you may take a course requiring a research paper in a shorter time frame.
Click below to view the timeline for research papers over the course of eight weeks. Please note that some research papers are written in an even shorter time frame. If that’s the case for you, you’ll want to adjust your schedule accordingly.
Remember, even if you have a shorter time frame, you should not leave out the steps of a good process!