A research paper can be argumentative (topic should be debatable or controversial) or analytical (informative research with critical interpretation). 

Benefits from the Extended Essay process:

• Learn tremendous knowledge about your topic
• Learn how to conduct academic research
• How to write a formal academic paper
• Develop your creative and critical thinking skills

How to strengthen your research:

• Your primary and secondary sources give validation to your research. The more sources you have, the broader your understanding of your topic 
• Remember the type of source you use determines the quality of your information
• scholarly source or peer reviewed source 

Remember to Scaffold your research by breaking it down into steps. This helps you to stay on track and makes the tasks less intimidating.

An Annotated Bibliography is a great tool for research.  It helps you to organize your research.  Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the source for your research.

• What is the author’s purpose (thesis)?  Look at the introduction and conclusion
• Who is the author audience? Look at how the information is organized, what are the main sections, what is emphasized, why.
• Look at the opening sentence in the paragraphs to get an idea of the main point of the paragraph.
• Is this information useful for your paper?

Important considerations:

• Find your topic (something that interests you) –

• Do some preliminary work by searching your topic and read some introductions

• Write down the questions that come to mind. Do not pick a topic that is confusing to you.

• Use an annotated bibliography to note any effect or impact on your essay. Where this fits into your essay and if this supports your thesis.

• Narrow to specifics and create your hypothesis

• Make an outline - Organizing Your Argument, strong thesis statement, Research and Evidence and logic in argumentative writing. 

• Label all graphs, figures and tables with its significance to your thesis and your citation information.

• Walk someone through your essay.

• Make sure you know how to cite. Plagiarism is not allowed.

• Do not include background information in your essay, only information that is directly related to your question.

• Don't be afraid to discuss unexpected results, unresolved issues, limitations and uncertainties. These issues occur in research all the time and are important considerations, use your critical thinking to rationalize them and explain if you do not agree. 

• Your discussions and conclusions for your thesis are important and they come from you.

• Make sure you follow your EE instructions and ask questions if you are confused.

Academic Writing from Purdue Online Writing Lab - Great online resource!

ACS Guide from Purdue OWL

Sample Papers

• ACS Sample paper from Pittsburg State University
•  ACS Sample paper from Missouri State Writing CenterMLA Guide from Purdue OWL

APA Style Guide from Purdue OWL

Sample Paper

• APA Sample Paper

Chicago Manual of Style from Purdue OWL

• Chicago Manual of Style, Author Date Sample Paper

Author Date Sample Paper

more...

• Chicago Manual of Style, Notes and Bibliography (NB) Sample Paper

Notes and Bibliography (NB) Sample Paper

[ProfessionalTraining]. (2015, Dec 21). Table of Contents in Word 2016 [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/Y5kFdH31k-g 

[StaceyRoshan]. (2016, Mar 15). Google Docs: Table of Contents, Headers, & Outline Tool [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/HV-gj06nd5g