Often assumed to be the same thing as term papers, research papers are actually quite different. The primary distinction of a research paper, however obvious it might seem, is that the paper itself must be based in large part upon the results of active research on the part of the writer. In other words, some sort of active inquiry must be undertaken before any writing even begins; then, the writing itself must reflect both the results of that research as well as the conclusions reached as a result of having gone through the research process.

In this sense, research papers are not unlike theses or dissertations. All of these forms of written expression require the author to conduct actual research as a means of formulating a viable argument, or thesis, and then using the results of even more research, combined with higher-level analysis, synthesis, and other critical-thinking skills, to come to carefully-supported conclusions.

Such research can take many forms. For example, a research paper in Philosophy might require the student to conduct a literature review of original texts written by German philosophers in the late 19th century, find the common conceptual elements, and then draw conclusions about their theoretical contributions to the early Dadaist movement. Ideally, this research paper might also include thoughts about the future, such as how future trends in Western Philosophy might be discerned from the patterns of the past.

A term paper in this same Philosophy class, on the other hand, might concentrate upon the ideas of a single German philosopher, what those ideas meant in the context of his or her particular time and place, and whether or not those ideas might be relevant today. Yes, some research would need to be undertaken to write this paper, but nothing compared with the depth and breadth of that for the formal research paper. Moreover, the paper itself would not require that the same level of critical thinking skills be applied to the materials.

The bottom line is that research papers require far more work than one generally thinks, from the research process itself, through the endless textual citations, and on to the higher-level thinking skills required to draw intelligent conclusions. This process is even more daunting to students who have very little time, for whom English is not their first language, or for whom writing does not come easily.

Any time a research paper is assigned, don't think about how difficult it will be; instead, think about how much easier the process will be when you have a model from which to work. We have professional academic writers who have written literally thousands of successful research papers -- writers who understand the particular demands of the research paper -- writers who can begin work on a customized model for you right now. Alternatively, you can read more about research papers using this guide.

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