It is putting all of your research together in a format that you can present to people.

There are many different ways to put together and present your thesis statement and supporting evidence.

Once you have an outline that you like, you will be able to link your ideas and evidence either with sentences and paragraphs, visuals, sounds, movements, or a combination of any of these.

This tip sheet will focus on the written research paper, which is the format most commonly required.

If you have some flexibility in how you present your project, see Alternative Formats for the Presentation of Research Projects.

• Take out your outline and your note cards.
• Before you begin writing, take some time to put all of your note cards and borrowed material (pictures, etc.) in the order they will appear in your project. You can use your outline as a guide for this important step. You don't want to be searching for these things as you are writing.
• You will write your first paragraph about the first subtopic in your outline. (Your introduction will be written later.) Introduce that subtopic in the first sentence.
  
• The body of that paragraph will be more information about the first subtopic and your evidence for why it supports your thesis statement.
• Use your note cards to get borrowed material (quotes, statistics, etc) to use as evidence. You may also include pictures here from other sources. Remember that you need to cite all borrowed material immediately after you use it.
• You will continue in this manner until you reach the conclusion section of your outline.