How to Write a Research Essay on Hellenistic Philosophies

Writing guide
Posted on February 4, 2016

When writing a research paper, your job is to research the topic sufficiently so that you can back each claim you make with a fact or piece of data. In doing so, you must have clear claims in mind, and you must take significant time to read over books, scholarly journals, newspapers, and other academic publications relating to your topic.

If you are tasked with writing a research paper on Hellenistic Philosophy, consider the following steps:

1) Start by Finding Your Topic
To do this try and select a topic or idea that is interesting to you. The more interested you are in the topic, the more you will find the process enjoyable. If you are still having trouble you can always talk to your teacher and ask for some assistance with recommended topics. In any case, try to analyze a question that you want to answer or a problem you want to solve. This can help you to think of a topic more effectively.

2) Research by Reading over the Sources
Before you start your writing, it is imperative that you locate the appropriate sources to back up your claims. In order to properly substantiate what you are writing, you should look for academic sources that have been peer reviewed such as journals, books, or other documents authored by reputable individuals relevant to the field you are studying. You should not just use any book. Check the author out and see what other credentials he or she has. Before you quote someone, make sure they are worth quoting. Before you use a website, look over the web address and the author. If there is no “last updated” date for the site, who knows how old the content might be. Try to avoid websites for anything other than personal background reading, and even then it is best to stick to “.edu” or “.org” sites as these are not commercially funded sites.

In order to find the appropriate sources, both primary and secondary, look over your school library catalog, look inside bibliographies from sources you already have, and search through periodical indexes. If, for example, you are reading a book or journal in class and it relates to the topic you have selected, read over the bibliography as this might have other sources which you can use in your writing.

3) Take Notes
After you have the appropriate sources, it is time to take notes. As you are reading the sources you have evaluated, it is up to you to take proper notes and with that, proper bibliographic information for data you want to cite later on. This is an important and time saving step, for when you are close to your deadline and try to cite your quote or statistic in the text it will save you hours of pouring over photocopies and printed pages for the right page number and author.

4) Write
Start by writing an outline from your notes, after which you can produce a first draft and make the necessary changes until you have something presentable.

This guide provided by our service should help you to properly write your research paper on Hellenistic Philosophy. Don’t forget to check our set of related 20 topics with 1 sample essay and 10 facts that will back you up with arguments.

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