You'll need to analyze your professor's written assignment sheet for the paper. You should have received it either as part of the syllabus at the start of the semester or as a handout in class. Get it out now, and look for these clues:

• Look for key question words that tell you what kind of thinking and writing are expected: report, survey, analyze, interpret, argue, compare.
• Look for key terms about the kind of information to seek: historical background, critical interpretations, previous scholarship or criticism. . . .
• Look for the kinds and numbers of sources of information you are asked to search: journal articles, books, biographies, reference works, internet sites.
• Look for information about the required length of the paper.

  After you reread the assignment for these kinds of clues, write in your own words your understanding of the kind of paper you are being asked to write:

  Now, with a clearer sense of what you have to do and why, let's get started in the step- by-step work that will lead to a completed research paper. Click next to go on to the Research Writing Process page.

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