The Research Process: 

1. Identify your research question.
2. Locate a variety of good quality academic sources.
3. Keep a record of your sources with Noodle Tools or a working bibliography form.
4. Develop a system of note taking so you are keeping track of what information you got from each source, and whether you paraphrased or copied it verbatim. This is the best way to avoid plagiarism.
5. Organize and assess the relevance of your notes to your research question, and build your argument or thesis.
6. Create a succinct thesis statement.
7. Write an outline for your essay and ensure that each section has evidence to support your thesis statement.
8. Write your essay, edit, and use correctly formatted in-text citations (Grade 10 and up).
9. Include a properly formatted works cited list at the end of your essay.