Writing a Research Paper - A guide to resources for UCB students: Home

Overview of the process of writing a research paper (UCB Student Learning Center)

Understanding your assignment/Begin Research (UC Libraries)

• Understanding your assignment
• Selecting and focusing a topic
• Finding keywords
• Matching your information needs to the right type of resource

Assignment Calculator (University of Toronto) (see also UCLA)

Enter your start date and due date, choose the type of project, and view a customized step by step guide to the process with target dates for each step.

Knowledge Cycle (UC Libraries)

• Learn about the timeline for producing scholarly information
• What kinds of sources  (primary, secondary, etc.)  are available for research
• Information timeline:  what kinds of information is available minutes, days, weeks, months after an event?

Finding Books (UC Libraries) how to use library catalogs to find books and other resources for your paper

Finding Articles (UC Libraries)  how to use article databases to find articles and other resources for your paper

Basic Search (UC Libraries)  more details about searching:  combining terms, variant word endings, limiting by language, year, etc., sorting your results.

Advanced Search (UC Libraries):   using official subject terms, search by specific fields such as title or abstract, etc.

Make Citations (UC Libraries):   the basics of citing your sources, identifying the parts of a citation, etc.

More about citations (UCB Library)

- links to the Purdue OWL guides to APA, MLA and Chicago styles

- where to find the complete style guides (some in print, some online)

- citation management software (Refworks - free, Zotero - free, Endnote)

Get help with library research (including 24/7 chat!)  (UCB Library)

General Guides to Library Research (UCB Library)

Evaluating web pages (UCB Library)

Tutoring and workshops on writing (UCB Student Learning Center)

Handouts and guides to writing (UCB Student Learning Center)

Writing Resources (UCB College Writing department)

Feeling proud of your research paper?  consider submitting it for the Library Prize!

Interested in moving from course-based research assignments to conducting original research?  Resources in support of students doing original research, with or without a faculty mentor (UCB Office of Undergraduate Research)

You can type your question directly into this chat window to chat with a librarian. Your question may be answered by a reference librarian from Berkeley, from another UC campus, or another academic library elsewhere in the world.  We share information about our libraries to make sure you get good answers.

If the librarian can't answer you well enough, your question will be referred to a Berkeley librarian for follow-up.

Have fun chatting!