OVERVIEW: A research paper is not a personal narrative using first person, nor is it a report on your findings about your topic. Instead, it is a piece of writing that requires a more abstract, critical, and thoughtful level of inquiry. Writing a strong research paper means you have familiarized yourself with the writing of experts on your chosen topic, and then compared their opinions, findings, etc., with your own thinking. So, rather than reporting on your findings, you will need to use facts, statistics, the results of studies, and opinions from expert sources to support a claim (or thesis) you make about your topic. Your job is to integrate evidence and your personal insights. Ultimately, YOU are the one in charge. That is, your beliefs and thinking are backed up by the ideas and information of others. This is a short research paper but is expected to be a well written scholarly document.