Environmental Studies and Forestry Research Paper Writing: How-to Tips and Tricks for College Students

Introduction to the Topic

The research paper is an independent student work experience. At the same time, students of higher education institutions often perceive this activity as problematic, as they overestimate its complexity. However, the study of the algorithm for writing such a paper is an interesting and cognitive process, as well as work that allows determining the possibility of creativity in writing and design. In the course of studying this recommendation, you will understand that working on the research paper cannot deviate from generally accepted rules, and creative approach is welcome within reasonable limits in case of the first experience of its writing. Also, work in this area allows students to learn how to use additional literature and systematize the selected material. So, you definitely should not be afraid of writing the research paper. Nevertheless, you have to follow certain rules.

What Is the Environmental Studies and Forestry Research Paper?

Research activity is a scientific work related to scientific studies, conducting research, experiments in order to expand existing knowledge and obtain new information, test scientific hypotheses, and identify patterns, scientific generalizations, and justifications for the materials of the relevant discipline. In this regard, environmental studies and forestry research paper is an independent study of a student that reveals his/her knowledge and ability to apply it to solve specific practical problems. The paper should be logically completed and demonstrate the ability of the learner to articulate his/her thoughts clearly, argue the sentences, and use the terminology correctly. Of course, such a research paper is simpler than the work of real scientists. However, in terms of structure, methods used, and the planning system, it is actually a scientific study.

The knowledge gained by the student during his/her own research is much better remembered. The method when a professor and a student set themselves questions explored by the discoverers of patterns in various sciences and seek answers together draws more students’ attention and forms their desire to engage in research activities in the future. In this regard, the objectives of the environmental studies and forestry research paper include the following:

• the acquisition of the skill to plan one’s own activities;
• the manifestation of the initiative;
• the ability to adhere to the chosen research question;
• development of analytical abilities of the student;
• the acquisition of assessment skills;
• the ability to formulate and express one’s thoughts clearly.

So, writing the research paper is a complex task, the purpose of which is to illuminate or prove an interesting question or hypothesis, as well as to gain the necessary experience.

Tips on Preliminary Notes to Get the Job Done Effectively and Efficiently

This advice may not be timely, but you should be aware of what the preliminary notes are and how they can help the student at the time of writing research papers and other assignments. It should start with the fact that each of you in the process of learning writes down lectures that set out the theory fully or briefly (depending on the professor’s desire).

At the end of the course, you have quite a heavy notebook. It is difficult to re-read such a work fully once again and isolate the required information from it. In this case, preliminary notes are used. They are a kind of summary of the studied material which you write briefly with highlighting its key points only. That is, a 30-page section of lectures can be reduced to five sentences, in which you indicate the main points of view on the topic and conclusions from it, and write down the questions that interested you. It is a kind of working journal magazine that will help you to navigate topics easily. In this regard, it is possible to voice the advantages of preliminary notes as follows:

• They are much shorter than lectures and do not take a lot of time to write.
• You can describe the entire lecture with several memorable sentences.
• Preliminary notes indicate only key information or conclusions (including yours).
• In preliminary notes, it is desirable (and sometimes necessary) to indicate your personal opinion about what you heard and to fix your own ideas, as they will become the basis for writing the environmental studies and forestry research paper in the future.
• Preliminary notes will help you to focus on interesting topics that you plan to develop in the future. For example, you are studying the topic of forestry reform. In the process of obtaining the material, you stumbled upon the question of the formation of forest ecosystems. Fix it in the preliminary notes. The next topic, for example, concerns ecological balance. You may well note the key points of this material, and the question that interests you will be enhanced. For example, you will be interested in studying and analyzing the impact of forest ecosystems on forest restoration. Not the fact that you are using this particular issue in your research paper. However, as far as the preliminary notes are kept, you will accumulate many similar topics and will certainly be able to choose one of them.

‘How do I make preliminary notes?’

• Always carry around writing tools such as a notepad, a journal, a laptop computer, and so on.
• Do not mix lecture notes with preliminary notes – keep them separately.
• It is advisable to take notes by the end of the lesson when the topic becomes clear.
• It is desirable to record them regularly, without missing a topic.

Selecting a Topic for the Environmental Studies and Forestry Research Paper: A Few Tips from Our Writers

The research work begins with the desire to deal with the specific question. You need to understand what influence the research will have and whether it will bring benefit in the future activity, and realize the strengths of you as a researcher in the chosen direction. A good topic for the environmental studies and forestry research paper is the sphere that is interesting to you. Formulate it correctly. The topic should be formulated properly, narrow, and clear. In this regard, the choice of the theme of the research paper is determined by the subjects of the studied areas, the research interests of the student, and his/her prospective specialization in the future. The topic can be subsequently deployed to a large research project.

The choice of the topic for the research paper depends on preliminary notes largely. They can help you to find out what exactly you were interested the most in the framework of environmental studies and forestry, and what areas you would like to consider and develop. Always think ahead. Probably, you will continue this research paper in the future at a deeper level.

Example of Choosing a Topic for the Environment Project

For example, you studied the following topics throughout the course:

• Ecology and Environmental Balance;
• Ecological Nomenclature of Forest Management;
• Importance of Forest Ecosystems in the National Economy;
• Rational Use of Forest Resources;
• Environmental Problems in Forestry, and so on.

After a short review of these topics with the help of preliminary notes (or lectures), you need to consider the questions or issues of your interest. For example, your notes have the following entries:

• What are the ways to influence the ecological balance?
• I should study the legislation regulating forestry activities in more detail.
• What functions are inherent in forest ecosystems in order to use them to improve the efficiency of forestry?
• What modern technologies for increasing the efficiency of using forest resources exist?
• Can the forest itself recover and what conditions are necessary for this?

Then, there are purely technical moments. You need to choose something that relates to the official materials passed, which would also affect the topic interesting to you.

Examples of topics for the environmental studies and forestry research paper, in this case, are the following:

• The Benefit and Harm of Human Intervention in the Artificial Creation of Ecological Conditions for the Regeneration of Forests;
• The Effectiveness of Legislative Acts Regulating Environmental Activities in the Use of Forest Resources;
• The Benefit of Waste-Free Ecological Technologies of Wood Processing for Environmental Balance;
• Conditions for Self-Revival of Forestry.

Key Points of the Environmental Studies and Forestry Research Paper

While writing the environmental studies and forestry research paper, it is necessary to adhere to a certain structure:

• Introduction. In this section, the author of the research paper should provide the reader with an idea of the topic, describe its relevance, problems, and the need for research. An important part of it is the construction of a hypothesis. For this purpose, you need to formulate a scientific assumption that requires verification, theoretical justification, or confirmation. The key research hypothesis should come up from the formulation of the research topic. For example, non-waste technologies of wood processing contribute to minimizing the negative human impact on forestry and stimulate the natural regeneration of forests to a large extent.
• Background. In this part, you may briefly describe the historical information or general theoretical data that has led to the occurrence of the problem (question) under study.
• Literature review. It is an obligatory part of any environmental studies and forestry research paper. You will not be able to conduct a full study based on your own experience only, even if you conduct a field experiment that proves or confirms your hypothesis. For this reason, you need to refer to authoritative authors who studied and addressed the topic directly or indirectly.
• Methods and materials. To ensure your research paper complies with the norms of writing research projects, you must specify how exactly you investigated your question. Any research project must necessarily include a practical part, for example, surveys, interviews, or statistical analysis, on the basis of which you support the hypothesis. So, in this section, you must specify the tools that helped you conduct your experiments (observation, analysis, and so on). In particular, you must indicate whether your research is quantitative or qualitative; what methods of data collection and analysis you used; who were the participants, and in what way you interviewed them, and so on.
• Description of the research, and its practical part. It is the basic part of the research paper. In this section, you should describe the progress of the study and the observed characteristics. If the environmental studies and forestry research paper is based on a theoretical study, you should consistently describe the key points that support your thesis and provide full support to it.
• Results. In this section, you summarize the results, analyze them, and give conclusions for each outcome.
• Conclusions. The final part of the research paper, where you confirm the result of all the work. The conclusion must begin with a sentence that supports or refutes the stated thesis or hypothesis. Further, you may again describe the key points of the study, reduce them to one result, and describe it as well.
• Shortcomings and limitations. It is an additional section and depends on the requirements given by your instructors. In it, you can describe what problems you encountered in the process of writing the research paper, what limitations that you see, and what could contribute to reducing the reliability of the results.
• Directions for future research. This section is also optional. You may include topics that interest you (from preliminary notes), which, in your opinion, may be investigated in the future. However, these topics should necessarily overlap with the material that you have studied and continue the current paper in one way or another.
• List of references. In this section, you must provide references to the authors whose ideas you have used while writing your environmental studies and forestry research paper.

Writing and Post-Writing Tips to be a Good Writer

• Before writing your research paper, collect all possible information on your topic;
• Develop a preliminary plan of action. It will help you to carry out work consistently;
• Do not hesitate to ask your instructor for help. His/her experience will help you to structure your paper properly;
• The paper should be divided into paragraphs and sections. This will improve its readability;
• Your environmental studies and forestry research paper should show your growth and development. That is, the material included in it should be more complex than that in the intermediate essays;
• Be sure to check your paper for errors. Bad spelling and grammar, the presence of incoherent sentences, or sharp transition from one topic to another will lead to a lower assessment.

Most importantly, remember that there are no difficult research papers. If you conduct a thorough preparation for the study and follow the instructions, the writing process will be easy and 100% please you!