how to write a research paper in 4 hours

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How to Write a Research Paper Fast

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: January 27, 2020

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As a student, you knew it was inevitable. The day has come where you have to write a research paper, but you’ve put it off until the last minute. Now the pressure is sinking in to get it done quickly and you want to know how to write a research paper fast.

The good news is that it’s doable. The better news is that there are ways to avoid waiting until the last minute. We will tackle those after we give you everything you need to know to get it done.

Photo by Russ Ward

The process.

A research paper is what it sounds like — a paper that requires a thesis (or argument) along with the research to back it up. Research papers involve citing a variety of sources, analyzing arguments, and pulling different academic pieces together to prove a point.

1. Understand the Assignment:

The first thing you have to make sure you do before you get to outlining and writing is to understand the assignment. You will need to organize different pieces of information, from books, essays, interviews, articles and more.

2. Choose a Topic:

Depending on the assignment provided, you will either have a topic in front of you or you will have to decide on one yourself. If your professor did not provide you with a topic, here are some helpful ways to choose one that will work for your needs:

Choose something you understand enough so that you will be able to interpret the research about it
Before you get started, check that there is a lot of content about that topic by performing a simple online search to see what turns up
Write out your topic as a research question that you plan to answer
Research more about your topic and find evidence to back up what you want to answer
Make a list of keywords that you continue to see pop up about the topic
Create your thesis

3. Perform Research:

While performing research is as easy as conducting an online search for sources, the more important element is evaluating the validity of a source. Don’t use Wikipedia as a source, because it is crowdsourced and can be edited by anyone. Instead, rely on digital encyclopedias, scholarly databases, trustworthy publications like TIME magazine and the New York Times, and the like. Since you’re writing this research paper at the last minute, the library may not be a possible option. However, for the next time you write a research paper and plan in advance, definitely utilize books from the library.

4. Write Your Thesis:

A thesis statement is the gist of your entire paper. It is what you will spend your writing proving; therefore, it has to be strong and to the point. A thesis statement appears in the introduction of your research paper, following the strong hook statement that draws your readers in. There is a formulaic way to write a strong thesis statement, and it looks something like this:

“By examining (argument 1), (argument 2), and (argument 3), it is clear that (statement you will prove).”

A thesis statement is typically one sentence and it is clearly written so that the reader knows exactly what they will read about in your paper.

To check that you’ve written a strong thesis statement, ask yourself if it achieves the following:

Is it in the introduction?
Does it answer the question from the prompt?
Can others argue against my thesis?
Is it going to prove a single claim?
Does it answer something meaningful?

5. Outline Your Paper:

Now that you have the main ingredients for your research paper, namely your thesis and supporting research, you can start outlining. Everyone has their own way they like to create an outline for papers. Here’s one good example of how it can be done — this is called a flat outline:

List the topics you will discuss
Under each topic, write your sources
If you are lacking sources, revisit and research more to give more meat to your paper
Move your topics and their information onto your paper in an organized flow
Write your thesis at the top so you can ensure that you are answering/proving your thesis throughout the paper’s argument

6. The Body/Intro and Conclusion:

So, do you start with your introduction and conclusion and then fill in the body? Or, do you do it the other way around? Really, there is no right or wrong way. It ultimately depends on your preference. Some people like to write their introduction and use it to serve as an outline of their paper and then flow from there. Others like to write their points in the body of their paper and then extrapolate the introduction and conclusion from what they wrote.

Regardless of how you perform your work, there is a structure that the paper must follow, which looks like this:

Introduction – includes a hook sentence (grabs the reader), your thesis and a menu sentence (a list of what you will discuss).
Body paragraphs – each body paragraph comes from what you mentioned in your introduction’s menu sentence. Each body paragraph has a topic sentence, or a first sentence that clearly states what it will be about. Each body paragraph includes support and sources that prove the topic sentence or argument.
Conclusion – here, you restate your introduction and thesis in different words. You want to end with a strong and memorable sentence. Just like your introduction began with a hook statement, your conclusion should end with something that will be remembered.

7. Cite Sources:

One of the major differences between a research paper and any other academic paper is that you must cite your sources. The end of your paper will have a list of sources, or a bibliography. Depending on your professor’s preferences, they will either be listed in APA format , MLA , Chicago , etc. This is an imperative step because your entire research paper’s evidence is based on and backed up by these sources, so you must give them credit where credit is due.

While this is not in the cards for all paper writing, it is very important for a last minute research paper. You’ve likely spent hours crunching the information and regurgitating it in your own words to fill up the once blank pages. As such, it’s a good idea to step away from your paper, get some sleep, and then revisit it with fresh eyes in the morning.

9. Proofread Revise and Editing:

As with any paper, you want to make sure you read it over to catch any mistakes. Not only should you use the Word processing tool that checks spelling and grammar for you, but you must also read it out loud to find any mistakes.

10. Find and Remove Plagiarism:

Once you are done with the entire proofreading and checking phase, the last thing that you have to do is find and remove plagiarism in your research paper. Plagiarism has a lot of consequences, and you have to make sure that your research paper is completely free of it. To do this, you first have to use a plagiarism checker to find all the plagiarized parts. Once found, you can either remove them or give the required accreditations.

If there is time to ask a friend or peer to read over your paper one time, that will be a good idea, too.

Photo by Dan Dimmock on Unsplash

How to write a research paper in a day.

Granted, all the steps above can help you write a research paper fast. Here’s a brief look at how you can do this in a day:

1. Brainstorm Quickly

Use the prompt
Outline possible options
Perform a simple Google search and find what has the most information
Choose your topic
Create an outline

2. Research

Find research to support each point in your outline

3. Write Quickly

Put it all on paper as you think of it
Take time to edit, condense, and rewrite

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

Find a good writing environment.

Before sitting down to get started on your last-minute task, make sure you set up an environment that is conducive to getting your work done. Things you want to consider:

1. Distraction-free:

Choose somewhere quiet and distraction-free. You will have to stay focused for a few hours, so you’ll want to choose a comfortable setting.

2. Good lighting:

Along with comfort, make sure you have adequate lighting to read and write.

3. Go somewhere studious:

Perhaps, if time permits, you can choose to work in somewhere like a library or a study lounge.

4. Bring just your supplies needed:

Even if you work at home, make sure you set up a table with only the supplies you need, as to limit distractions. This could include: a computer, tablet, pen, paper, highlighter, books, and sticky notes. Plus, don’t forget water!

Tips to Avoid Procrastination

Writing a last-minute paper, especially that involves research, is stressful and less than optimal . Instead of finding yourself in this position, you can follow this advice to avoid such a situation.

1. Start early:

Once you’re given the prompt, start thinking about what you want to write about. You can write down ideas on paper and look into the research that supports each point.

2. Outline first and take breaks:

Begin outlining your paper so that when you sit to write, you already have the bulk of it prepared. If you start early, you will have the advantage and ability to take breaks. This helps to revisit your argument with a clear head and potentially see things that you may have otherwise missed.

3. Ask for help if you need it:

Starting early means that you are not crunched for time. So, you have the added benefit of asking for help. You can solicit advice from friends, peers, family, your professors, teacher assistants, the online community, and more. Plus, when you finish writing your paper, you have time to ask for help from someone other than you to read it over and edit it.

The Bottom Line

While knowing how to write a paper fast is useful and at times necessary, it is not the optimal way to approach assignments. However, sometimes being in a bind is out of your control. Therefore, the best way to write a research paper fast is to follow the aforementioned steps and remember to stay calm.

While a research paper involves a lot of work, from creating a strong thesis to finding supporting research, it can be made into an enjoyable activity when you choose to write about something you are interested in. It gives you a chance to digest other people’s findings and make your own inferences about what they mean.

By following the typical structure of a research paper, creating an outline and finding good sources, you can get your research paper done in a night. Good luck!

At UoPeople, our blog writers are thinkers, researchers, and experts dedicated to curating articles relevant to our mission: making higher education accessible to everyone. Read More

How to Write a Last Minute Research Paper

Introduction: How to Write a Last Minute Research Paper

Step 1: Pick Your Topic

Step 2: research, step 3: develop your thesis, step 4: the body, step 5: introduction and conclusion, step 6: works cited, step 7: sleep on it.

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How to Write a Viable Research Paper in 6 Hours

Mattie Davenport January 18, 2017 2 Uncategorized

Madeline F.

Look, I know you would never procrastinate on writing a paper. That’s just not you. You know that presenting and supporting a solid argument requires many time-consuming steps, and that your papers will always, always come out better when you plan ahead and give yourself plenty of time to research, outline, write, and revise. BUT, in certain situations, the last minute may be the only minute you’ve got.

I get it—you were swamped with assignments this week. You had to pick up some extra shifts because you’ve already spent your entire meal plan on Starbucks. Maybe the assignment just slipped your mind. Either way, it’s midnight and you’re just now coming to terms with the fact that your paper has to be on your professor’s desk at 8 am. But it’s not necessarily the end of your GPA as we know it. So stop feverishly calculating the damage to your grade and get drafting. While it’s definitely not the ideal, it IS possible to complete a paper in just one night. Here’s how:

Preparation

Caffeine. Caffeine. Caffeine. Get the caffeine. Get all the caffeine. Consume whatever it is that you know will keep you awake—coffee, Red Bull, Five-Hour Energy, your own tears—and consume it in the quantity that you know will keep you awake. Do I advise taking in large amounts of these beverages on a regular basis? NO. Is tomorrow going to suck? PROBABLY. But if you’re like most college students—read: constantly exhausted—then the single biggest threat to your 8-hour paper is the possibility that you fall asleep. Even if you don’t think it’s going to happen, it probably will. So don’t come crying to me when you wake up on the floor at 7:49 am surrounded by notes with only a page of your draft finished. You have been warned. Deal with the abdominal pains and fatigue tomorrow. That’s Future You’s problem. Meditate on that struggle. After all, you did this to yourself!

If you’re sensitive to caffeine, I recommend chewing gum, singing as you write, slapping yourself repeatedly in the face, or eating energizing fruits like apples. And don’t you dare dim those lights.

Hour 1: Word Vomit & Research

Once you’re good and caffeinated, sit down with a blank piece of paper or a word document and write down everything you know or think you know about your topic. Then write down what you think your thesis statement might be. Don’t spend too much time on this—fifteen minutes should be enough to get down your ideas. And don’t waste time trying to make it pretty . You can do that later.

After that, start collecting sources. Jot down valuable quotes and pieces of information as you go along, and always make sure to attribute these pieces of informations to their sources in your notes so you don’t forget where you got it from and accidentally plagiarize. Build a citation for a source as soon as you’re sure you’re going to use that source. If you wait until the end to cite all of your sources, you’ll be forced to rush and your citations run a higher risk of coming out sloppy.

Hour 2: Connecting & Forming Points

Have a look at your word vomit alongside your collected research. What does the research support? What does the research contradict? What logical inferences can you make based upon the connections between these materials? Write these down. Use what you learn here to make adjustments to your working thesis statement (which you’ll continue doing until the very end, by the way).

After that, use the connections you’ve made to begin forming the points that will support your thesis. Each of these will become a paragraph. You might even start writing a little bit about each of them—but we’ll get to that in Hour 3.

Hour 3: Break & Drafting

Spend about 15 or 20 minutes away from your paper. Go for a walk, take a shower, make yourself a snack—whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t completely put the paper out of your mind. You’ve formed your basic ideas; now allow them to gestate. Consider how you might connect your points, and what strategies you can use to argue them.

When those 15 or 20 minutes are up, start writing for real. Keep your sources, your word vomit, and your points nearby, and use them to push your draft along. Again, it doesn’t have to be pretty right now—the idea is to get out as much material as you can, and polish it later.

Hour 4: Follow-up Research, Incorporating, & More Writing

Now that you’ve started writing, you may have noticed a few holes in your argument. Which paragraphs are looking a little skimpier than others? What points are you having a difficult time supporting or explaining? Additional sources may help to clear some things up—and now’s the time to look for them! You might use the information you find to expound on a point you’ve already made (in which case you should be sure to keep it attached to the appropriate paragraph), or you might use it to create a new point altogether (in which case you’ll probably want to create a new paragraph).

As you work to incorporate your new sources, continue to churn out as much material as possible. (Tip: after a direct quote, spend a couple of sentences unpacking the information in your own words. This helps you to meet the length requirement and makes your paper more awesome.)

Hour 5: Even More Writing

This is where you finish the “first draft,” so to speak. Keep going until all of your body paragraphs are completed and you’ve just about reached the minimum length. This is when you’ll add in your introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Depending on your style, some of the information needed in these paragraphs may appear elsewhere in the paper, in which case you can simply move it. Consult your original word vomit, too—there may be useful stuff there.

The main things that you need, though, are your working thesis statement (you may want to tweak it a bit now, depending on where you’ve ended up) and your main points, which already appear in your body paragraphs—lean on these!

Don’t forget to add in necessary headings, cover pages, etc., depending on what citation style you’re using.

Hour 6: Revision & Editing

Read the entire paper. Closely. Typically, revision and editing are separate activities, but you don’t have time for that right now—so fix grammatical, mechanical, and spelling errors as you go along. This is also where the “polishing” step comes in—if something sounds weird, reword it. Consider the main topic of each of your paragraphs and keep an eye out for any information that’s out of place. Look back over that citation list, too.

After correcting errors and shifting things around, read through the paper one last time just to be sure you didn’t fumble with your keyboard and mess something up (you’re pretty sleep deprived, after all).

And that’s it! Print it out, turn it in, and pick up some more caffeine if you have to. When you’re done with all of your responsibilities for the day, call it an early night. You’ve earned it. You can worry about your grade later.

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I’m shocked!