What is an Academic Research Paper?
When you graduate from High School and attend College or University one thing that you’ll notice is that the writing assignments that you are expected to complete are very different. Academic research papers, which are in some ways like the essays that you wrote in High School, are meant to be thorough investigative examinations of academic theories. When you compose an academic research paper you are not just reporting on other people’s work, but contributing to scholarly writing about the subject matter. No longer will your essay writing focus be “What I did this summer?” instead you’ll be expected to write critical literature about expert topics. In order to understand exactly how academic research writing is different we’ve included three comparisons for you to consider.
- Academic Writing Is Written For The Academic Community
- Academic Research Papers Examine Important Questions
- Academic Research Paper Writing Should Present an Opinion or Idea that is expertly defended.
Once in University you join the scholarly community. This means that as a student studying to become an expert in one area of academia you will be expected to contribute by writing research papers. Don’t worry this probably won’t be until you are a bit further into your school career. As a freshman you will begin to learn how to read, write, debate, and research related subject matter so that you can do this successfully. The best way to learn how to write research publications is by studying the works of your peers and previous graduates.
Like I said before “My Dog Spike” is no longer a suitable report topic for a University student. Instead the academic research that you do will involve answering important thesis questions in your field of study. This means that not only will you expected to write comprehensive research documents, you will also have to study and compare similar papers that have been written by experts.
Finally, one of the main characteristics of an academic research paper is that it clearly presents an opinion on the topic of discussion. This is where your critical thinking skills will come in handy. The thesis statement that you write should take a stance and make a point as well demonstrate your purpose for writing. This is something that takes a pit of practice to get the hang of. However, once you have mastered the thesis writing process research paper writing should be easy!