A research paper can be a tricky thing and knowing how to start a research paper can be the trickiest of all. The most obvious thing these days is to run to the internet and find everything there but that doesn't guarantee you the truly great marks. below I have given you 7 research writing tips which should point you in the right direction and get you the information and data you need

1. A great place to start with any research paper is an encyclopedia. To start with they give you an overview of a given topic and tell you which people are involved as well as the issues and history of a given subject. They will also give you information on the people who write about the subject and the journals which tackle it.
2. You can use those journals to discover further research areas and papers to expand your knowledge of a given subject.
3. Reviews of the books you find in your initial search can also be useful for the people who write those books are usually knowledgeable on the subject and will have written other related information which won't be in the book they are reviewing.
4. Though you don't want to waste time in your research, it is worth spending some time on finding the hard to find information to make your paper stand out. This information will not be written on the card catalog and requires you to know more about specific authors to discover it.
5. Look at yearly indexes of the journals you read which are normally published in the December issues. You may also find indexes which cover an entire decade of research in one publication. Journals which present just the Abstracts from papers are also available and can really cut down the amount of time spent searching for relative information.
6. You should make the most of librarians as you will not be the first person to ask them about a certain subject and although they may not be an expert in the details, they will have some inside information on what people have looked at in the past. Again, this is a great time-saving technique.
7. Finally, you could contact the author themselves. However, you must have done your homework first as their time is precious and if your questions are too vague due to not understanding the subject fully then you are not likely to get a response.

If you use the 7 tips above when writing a research paper then you will produce a well-rounded and thoroughly researched paper and, more importantly, one which will impress your professor.