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How do I Write a Sports Research Paper?

Dan Cavallari
Dan Cavallari

Writing a strong sports research paper starts with choosing a strong topic. Like any other research paper, a sports research paper must have a strong thesis statement — the sentence that states the writer's main idea clearly. Therefore, before starting to write the sports research paper, the writer should research the topic carefully to form an argument or opinion about the subject. That way, the writer can then form a strong thesis statement, on which the rest of the paper will be based.

Choosing a strong topic means choosing a specific topic. For example, instead of writing a sports research paper about "Baseball in the 1990s," the writer might instead narrow the category down and research "How Steroid Use Affected Professional Baseball in the 1990s." This topic will be easier to both research and write about because it pinpoints a specific issue, and plenty of resources should be available for such a topic. This also narrows down the focus of the sports research paper, making it easier for a potential reader to navigate and ultimately understand.

The use of steroids in professional sports is an important and intriguing research paper topic.
The use of steroids in professional sports is an important and intriguing research paper topic.

The writer can choose from a myriad of topics within the sports community, ranging from controversial events to health issues. Historical events are a good place to start, since newspapers and magazines have often chronicled prominent events that were important within the sporting world. Once the topic has been chosen and narrowed down, careful research from reliable sources must be done. the writer must be sure to cite the sources he or she uses in the paper, especially if direct quotes or passages are used. It is helpful at this point to begin outlining the information the writer finds so that he or she may organize that information into a logical progression for the paper.

Researching the topic carefully will allow you to form an argument.
Researching the topic carefully will allow you to form an argument.

When research and note-taking on the specific sports issue has been completed, it is time to organize the information into an outline. The outline will dictate the order in which the specific issues the writer wants to cover will occur in the paper. It is important to ensure that the topic of each paragraph directly relates to the thesis — the writer should try to avoid straying too far from the main topic. Once an outline is formed, the writer can begin writing the first draft.

The second draft of the sports research paper should be written after the writer reads his first draft to ensure he has stayed on topic, has supported his thesis, has accurately cited sources, and has concluded his paper strongly. One more read-through is necessary to spot any grammatical mistakes, sentence structure issues, or other technical problems. Next, the final draft should be written; this should be a clean copy that clearly states the writer's arguments.

Discussion Comments

Sporkasia

The key to doing well on a research paper is to choose a topic you are interested in. This of course is assuming that you are allowed to choose the topic. Don't choose sports as a topic if you have no interest in this area. Writing a research paper should be fun and educational.

Laotionne

As with any research paper you want to be sure to get the form right. You can find plenty of research paper examples online. These examples will guide you as you write your paper. One mistake I have made in the past when doing research papers is that I didn't have a good idea of how much information I was going to have in each section to support my outline. This was caused by poor planning, or absolutely no planning.

Once for a research paper in history, I had to turn in the outline ahead of the paper, so my teacher could approve it. She approved the outline. Then when I was writing the paper, I realized I didn't have much information to support one of my headings on the outline. This ended up costing me on my final grade.

Feryll

The great thing about sports is that they are a good reflection of life as a whole, but usually sports tend to bring out the more positive sides of life-- not always of course. About any subject you want to write about, you can find a sports story that contains that subject matter.

If you want to write about racism, segregation and humanity then you need look no further than the story of Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League Baseball. If you want to write about WW II then you can write about Ted William, the great player for the Boston Red Sox who took a break from baseball and served in the war and then resumed his baseball career after that.

And of course there are plenty of come-back stories in sports. And plenty of David vs Goliath stories. The choices for sports research paper topics are endless and you can find one that relates to anything you are interested in.

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    • The use of steroids in professional sports is an important and intriguing research paper topic.
      By: sherez
      The use of steroids in professional sports is an important and intriguing research paper topic.
    • Researching the topic carefully will allow you to form an argument.
      By: greenstockcreative
      Researching the topic carefully will allow you to form an argument.