The Fundamentals Of Writing Argumentative and Analytical Research Papers

Research paper writing is a skill that must be developed through careful efforts. It is not the same task as creative writing, journaling, or even essay writing. Research papers are typically your extrapolations of what is reality from the facts and opinions of credible sources. The two main forms of the research paper are argumentative and analytical. You will want to be familiar with these differences when you write a research paper so that you can carefully craft your research paper to meet your goals for it.

The Analytical Approach to Research Papers

Analytical research papers require the writer to have thoroughly explored the topic being covered. The goal is to provide expert knowledge in a way that is broken down into the writer's own words. With an analytical approach to writing, the writer answers the research question objectively by coming into the project with no pre-conceived opinions about the subject.

Once the writer becomes familiar with the topic they are able to piece together their findings that best represent the purpose of the paper. Put simply, an analytical research paper combines serious contemplation with a critical evaluations of the question.

The Argumentative Approach to Research Papers

Argumentative research papers are also known as persuasive papers. Besides presenting ideas which have undergone much critical thinking, the writer takes one side of an argument and uses it to form a thesis. The thesis is essentially a statement proposing one side of an argument that the writer feels should be taken into consideration.

What separates the argumentative approach from the analytical is the writer's stance which demonstrates being in favor of one side of an argument. Facts and credible resources are then used in order to compliment the writer's position. The point of writing an argumentative research paper is to convince the reader to side with the writer by using reliable sources and making valid arguments.

The main difference between the two types of writing is that the argumentative research paper is an attempt to convince your readers of the validity of a certain view you hold of a subject, while the analytical research paper is an attempt to use your research to give an objective snapshot of what is known about the subject.