Research Essay
A research essay is an essay that includes a significant research component. Research essays can take a variety of forms. They can be expository (informative) essays that attempt to inform the reader about a certain topic. They can be analysis essays that draw on external research as well as the writer's own ideas to analyze a text or idea. They can be argumentative essays that attempt to use research-based claims to persuade the reader. They can also be personal essays that integrate an element of research to supplement the writer's narrative. Essentially, any type of essay can be a research essay, so long as it includes a significant amount of research.
Research essays are different from research papers. A research paper is intended to be a strictly academic text in which the writer reports on the research of others and uses that research to either inform or persuade. An essay is a text that is rooted in the ideas, opinions, and interpretations of the individual writer. Therefore, a research essay will be based in the writer's own ideas, and will use research as a supplement to bolster or enhance those ideas. This means that the majority of the essay should still be the writer's own thoughts, opinions, and logic. The research is supplementary. A research essay should always present considerably more of the writer's own words and thoughts than those of external research.
Research essays will essentially follow the conventions of the larger essay form in which the writer is writing (expository essay, analysis essay, argumentative essay, or personal essay). Therefore, the writer should be familiar with this larger form before proceeding. The primary thing the writer needs to know about transforming that larger form into a research essay is how to incorporate and cite research.
There are two ways of including research in an essay. One is to quote the words of the research source exactly. This is done by presenting the words of the source and enclosing them in quotation marks "like this." The second way of including research is to paraphrase. Paraphrasing is describing the ideas presented in the source without using the words the source writer used. Paraphrasing is essentially capturing the idea of the source without borrowing from the writer's words. A research essay should include a balance between quotations and paraphrases. As a general rule, the writer should paraphrase when the ideas presented can be summarized and presented in the essay writer's own words without changing the meaning of the ideas. A writer should quote when (1) the writer cannot change the words of the source without changing the ideas or (2) the source writer explained the idea in an extremely intelligent or interesting way.
All quotes or paraphrases must give due credit to the source through a citation. The citation style used for a research essay will depend on the teacher's preference, but all citations must include the name of the author and, if the research included is a quote, the page number on which the quote can be found in the source.
Finally, when incorporating paraphrases and quotes into a research essay, a student must make great effort to introduce and analyze the quote. One should never simply present information from a secondary source without commenting on it. The essay writer should always explain, analyze, or argue with the research in such a way that the research becomes integrated into the overall essay idea of the writer.
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