Your research paper should address a topic in the field of what I call “big tent” feminism: e.g., gender, race, class, sexuality, disability, and/or structures of society. A strong paper will contain three basic elements: a motivating question/argument, a rough description of your methodology, and your findings. It should be roughly 10–15 pages double-spaced (roughly 2500–5000 words). The exact length is not as important as the clarity of argument, evidence, and conclusions.
Choosing a Topic
In my experience of finding topics, the best first step is to play. Noodle around in news articles. Try different combinations of words and phrases in Google or another broad search engine. If you add the word “news” to any topic, you will find stories and examples that might be off the beaten track. Then you can use Barton Plus and Google Scholar to find research and data about your topic. Or perhaps you will want to use other databases (Nexis Uni, ProQuest, CQ Researcher, Statista). A topic can be like the frame of your paper, the subject that you are going to home in on. Try to think what might be the boundaries of your topic—its beginning and end in time and space, the cast of characters, the subtopics or related topics you might bring in.
Question/Argument
Your question should speak to your interest and be sufficiently intriguing to draw in the reader. Ask yourself, “So what? Why should a busy person want to read my paper and learn about this topic?” Consider whether and how your argument adds new knowledge and insight that others have not addressed. One way to set up a good argument is to look at its opposite: Could someone say “no” to what I am arguing? Could they make a counterargument? You could say, for example, that most people believe x, but your evidence suggests y. Then you can ask why your y might be happening. By first setting up the opposite of what you want to argue, you can help prove to your reader the importance of your topic and findings, why it is something they should want to take note of and read. Be sure to try to state your argument by the end of your first paragraph.
Try also put your argument into your title. Don’t just call your paper “A Study of Y.” Instead you could say “The Misperception of Y in the Z Community” or “Y Issue as the Tip of the Iceberg for Z” or “Y: The Problem Nobody Knows About but Everyone Should Be Thinking About.”
Methods
Once you’ve told the reader what you are going to argue, you’ll want to tell us how you came to your conclusions. What kinds of sources did you use? Are there benefits and/or limits to these sources?
Findings
Think about how you want to present your findings. What is the right order? Is it chronological (change over time)? Is it some kind of internal logic (say, from most obvious to least obvious answers to your burning question)? Is it some answers to a question that are actually wrong, while others turn out to be right? Can you organize it by subtopic and create corresponding subheadings?
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
When you finish your paper, take time to read it over carefully to catch any mistakes or infelicities in word choice, grammar, logic, spelling, or punctuation. One good trick is to read your work out loud. Often you can hear when something isn’t working well when you read it out loud. Over the years I have often heard students say, “I knew that wasn’t the right word; but I couldn’t quite think of a better one.” If something isn’t quite the right word, take an extra moment to see if you can find the word you really want.
Try to avoid filler (e.g., “x is an interesting topic”). Aim for strong verbs ("y issue calls for our attention because of a, b, and c). If you can get rid of the verb “to be” as a connecting verb, you have already made your paper stronger (instead of “the house is big,” try for “the house has room for 4 people to sleep comfortably”).
Pay special attention to your first paragraph. Once you have finished a whole draft of your paper, go back and reread, rewrite the opening paragraph so your best points come first and draw the reader in. I often find that as I am writing, I gain new ideas. If that happens to you (I think it happens to almost all writers), be sure to go back and put your best ideas up front even if that means a bit of rewriting both there and throughout the paper.
Good luck, and enjoy your writing! We are happy to help at all stages of the research and writing.
Resource
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends: Some Writing Tips for Feminist Thought
