Unit 3: Writing—Create a Research Report

Unit 3: Writing—Create a Research Report

Overview

In this unit you will learn how to plan and write a research report. Some of us stop dead in our tracks when we hear the words research report. Some of us may think of an assignment to write a research report in the same way as being sentenced to tens of hours of drudgery in the library—a kind of prison sentence, except the windows don’t have bars. If these are the associations you bring to the research report, then you most likely have been approaching this kind of assignment with the wrong goal. When we go about writing a research report, our aim is not to find every fact we can on a particular subject. Neither is our aim to list these facts in a report to show the teacher that we have “been there and done that.” This kind of approach to the research report offers you an incomplete picture of what the research report is all about.

Yes, it is true that the research project is about learning how to find information and ideas. The purpose of finding information and ideas, however, is to answer questions. That’s right, the research project and report is all about taking a topic and asking questions of it. The researcher—in this case, you—then strikes out to discover evidence to answer these questions. When you think of the research project as a quest to find answers, you transform the project from a tiresome exercise to an exciting mission. After gathering evidence upon which to base answers, the researcher then shares the evidence and answers with readers through a report or article.

This unit will take you through the steps in writing a research paper: (1) selecting a topic, (2) developing questions on your topic, (3) researching answers to your questions, and then (4) drafting your report. An important part of drafting your report includes telling your readers which information and ideas you borrowed from other texts. You will also tell readers the source from which you borrowed any information or ideas.