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questions easily lead to an interesting topic for a research paper about writing research papers, say, the history of paper and the writing of research papers. Ok, maybe that's not the topic that interests you.

So, let's ask another question: what is meant by a paper? This leads to information about different types of papers with research paper as one type, and different types of research papers. For a Middle School or High School research paper a student might be expected to focus mostly on the topic, research strategies, and how to report information. This type of paper might also be called a research report, something often used in technical fields such as Engineering and the Sciences. At its best, it draws conclusions about "what is known" on a particular topic. A college student is typically expected to take a position on a debatable question on which reasonable people in the field disagree. That might lead to a topic that questions the idea of a "research" paper, its purposes, or its value to education. What about scientific research? This might lead to an exploration of genres, or types, of writing.

In doing your research you could continue to ask questions about the word "paper" for some time. However, before you get to blank paper, the steps in writing a research paper lead to research.

This give you the "T" in TRIAC, your Topic.

After you've found a question that fits the assignment, it is time to go looking for information in order to refine the question and have some material about which to write.

This leads to the "R" in TRIAC: Restriction.

In order to finish the paper in one night, you will need to get to online databases that include complete text of the articles for your research. Use your library's web page to access these. Chances are, though, that when you search on your topic you will find hundreds, maybe thousands of possible articles.

So, you will want to choose key words and terms from your list of questions about your topic that limit, or Restrict the results. One good way to find limiting search terms is to use the database to look up an assigned reading that relates to the paper by author and title, and see what search terms are listed for it. The online entry in a library database (such as J-Stor) usually gives the search terms, but you might have to choose "long entry" to see them.

Find search words and phrases that give you enough results for the assignment, but not too many to review in a short time (often the professor has specified

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