Among different genres of research papers, analytical research paper is the least discussed. Writing an analytical paper is challenging. What makes it so challenging are the demands of this research paper. An analytical paper demands you to perform many tasks, like thesis formulation, gathering all the relevant sources and then evaluating them to back up your ideas. So, all these things make it challenging writing to work on. However, after reading this article, this research paper type will not pose any difficulty to you because today’s article is all about discussing guidelines for writing this paper. It is also important to note that this guide is for freshers and new researchers. Hence, let’s get started by answering the following question.
What is an analytical research paper?
An analytical research paper is a paper that explores a research topic or issue in depth. To write such a paper, a researcher needs not only good writing skills but also expertise in conducting the analysis and drawing a valuable conclusion from the study. The analytical paper usually states the research topic in the form of a question. The researcher, in turn, explores that question by doing an in-depth investigation and turning the pages of literature upside down.
Guidelines for writing a good analytical paper
From the discussion above, you got a full idea of what an analytical paper is all about. Well, exploring the topic deeply is not the only thing that an analytical paper includes. Giving substantial facts and pieces of evidence to back up your investigation is also important. Although there are some good firms to get dissertation help for your research but you can also work by following quality guidelines. Hence, a brief description of guidelines for writing a good analytical research paper is as follows:
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State your point of view upfront
No matter what you choose as your point of view, state it clearly at the start of your research paper. This stance of yours acts as a thesis statement of your research paper, and now all your research and discussion must revolve around this statement. For example, the topic of your research paper is, “Though World War I had many different causes, nationalism led to the War’s beginning and proliferation.” Here, in this analytical research topic, you need to first state your point of view about nationalism as the trigger of World War I. After that, you need to take that stance throughout the research paper and provide evidence about that. Hence, stating your point of view is the first that you should do in an analytical paper.
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Do the literature review and choose interesting facts
The second step you need to take when writing an analytical research paper is doing the literature review and collecting interesting facts about the research topic. This collection of facts is the piece of evidence that will help you craft a good analytical paper. Another important thing to consider here is that make sure to form arguments from those collected facts. Use those arguments against the thesis statement that you have formulated above. So, the second step is about collecting some facts by doing a scholarly survey of the available literature.
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Apply the divide and rule strategy
If the topic of your analytical research paper is big enough that tackling it in one go is problematic, then apply the divide and rule strategy. This strategy tells you to break down the big ideas into smaller ones and then answer the big idea by answering the smaller ideas first. For example, “Though World War I had many different causes, nationalism, imperialism, and militarism led to the War’s beginning and proliferation.” As you can see, this topic has so many causes to talk about. in this scenario, you can break the research topic into smaller manageable parts and then answer those parts.
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Populate the research paper with evidence
The beauty of analytical research paper writing is that you can agree or disagree with an opinion or idea. This agreement or disagreement with the idea shows your position. So, once you have taken a particular position or stance about the research topic, the next thing is to populate the research paper with pieces of evidence related to your stance and point of view. Give as many as possible to justify your positions and also give reasons why the other side is not as applicable as yours. Discussing the other side is also necessary because you are analysing an issue from both sides. So, you need to populate the research paper with pieces of evidence on both sides of the research topic.
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Examine all the counterarguments
Analytical research writing is not argumentative writing where you only have to prove your position. Analytical writing means you need to take both sides and give reasons for both of them. So, when writing an analytical paper, do not forget to examine all the counterarguments to your point of view. Doing this makes your analysis stronger. It does not matter whether you agree or disagree with the arguments; you need to explore them in detail so that your analysis of the topic looks unbiased and real.
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Use only credible sources
An analytical research paper is an important piece of writing in which you explore a topic in detail. Your judgment and research on a topic can have serious implications for society. Therefore, using credible research sources is a must thing to do when working on an analytical research paper. Exercise the updated literature and avoid taking supportive information from the internet and unauthentic sources. Doing this will only weaken the analysis of the research topic. So, always use research papers, credible journals, and online databases.
Conclusion
Conclusively and undoubtedly, writing an analytical research paper is not a simple task. Reading tons of information and collecting dozens of pieces of evidence to support the analysis is not an easy thing to do. However, by following the guidelines mentioned above, you can write a perfect analytical paper. The key takeaways of today’s are using credible sources in your research and examining all the counterarguments to craft a compelling analytical paper.
