Common Mistakes in Writing Research Papers

There are many common mistakes in the English language and, as such, there are many mistakes in grammar and punctuation when students write papers. We have included a few tips to help keep you from making the same mistakes.

The most common errors occur when the student does not thoroughly know the subject of their paper. All too often, students fail to do enough research in order to have a good idea as to what it is they are writing about.

The first step in preventing this when writing a research paper is to check dictionaries and encyclopedias for the definition and meaning of the topic. This will give you a good idea of what it is you are writing about. This should be followed up with references from books, journals and the Internet. A student should read the reviews of books they plan to use as sources because these often give useful information about the books.

Another common error is the bibliography or works cited page. You must remember that each source must have the book or article name, author, publication date, journal, and page numbers.

Simple mistakes are often the most common in writing a paper. This includes simple things like remembering to put a period at the end of a sentence, or using the correct form of “there, their, they’re” in a sentence. Don’t be nonchalant in your proofreading - A simple mistake can cost you come grading time.

A common mistake students make in writing papers is using only the spell check without proofreading the paper. A term paper should be proofread several times before turning it into the instructor. You can prevent a lot of these mistakes by reading your paper aloud.

Students need to make sure the paper is organized with thesis, main points and evidence. The best way to do this is to create an outline. An outline will help your paper to flow so that the thesis is properly supported and the conclusion adequately sums up the paper. The conclusion should wrap up what you want the reader to learn from the paper.

Another common mistake with papers is failing to make the thesis of the paper clear and concise. An outline can help you in this process because it lets you use the thesis as the roadmap for your paper.

Use note cards to write down quotes and other sources. This will help you to keep your information in order. Make sure that the source is complete and concise. However, a paper should be more than word-for-word sources. Using sources in word-for-word format makes your paper boring for your reader and will most likely lead to a lower score.

Another common mistake is students trying to use philosophical styles to impress their instructor. All this really shows is the student has failed to understand the topic as well as obtaining the right sources to explain the thesis.

Another common mistake is being redundant. Don’t use the same word too many times in the same sentence; it takes away from the flow of the paper. Ex: The tree is such a big tree that it covers all the other trees.

When concluding your paper, be sure and wrap it up by re-stating the thesis. Give a final clincher or thought that will leave your last supporting ideas in the readers mind.

A not-so-common mistake, but is important to note, is the proper use of ellipsis periods. Ellipsis should be used to indicate something has been omitted in a quote. Only three should be used. If the quote already has a period, then four periods will actually be used. Never should there be two or five periods.

The last and probably most important mistake students often make is the failure to do a thorough job of proofreading the paper before it is turned into the instructor. Proofreading is a vital part of making your paper great. Check to make sure the correct grammar and punctuation has been used.

You can find more editing help and proofreading tips in the “Proofreading” section of MonsterPapers as well as tips on writing an effective thesis statement or writing an outline. Subscribe now to MonsterPapers to get access to over 1 million sample essays, book reports, and term papers.