Sources not from experts should not be used and this information may not be accurate which will lead to the reader of your paper being misinformed. After you have collected your sources you need to read them and take notes on the material and identify the information that is relevant to you. It is also important to be able to identify the most important data like when looking at figures that you identify that the marginal change is more relevant than the total. When you have compiled all the relevant notes that are paraphrased so that extracted the key words and it's in your own words, and summarised so its shorter than the original and the excess information has been removed these notes now need to be organised into an outline. Once the notes are organised you should evaluate the information you have gathered and see where it points you. Based on this you should now write the thesis statement. This is the most important sentence in your report it should consist of what you want to prove, how you are going to prove it and why it is important. Now a rough draft can be written with the data that has been gathered in your research, the draft should consist of an introduction, a main body, a conclusion and a good thesis statement. This draft will now be edited and corrected multiple times to ensure that your paper answers the question accurately. The paper can be edited by rereading it to check for errors or areas that can be improved, and the paper can be given to someone else to check as people can be biased towards their own work and may not spot their mistakes. This process will lead to a final perfect draft that has answered the question that was being asked in the best possible way due to the process that was taken to research the topic.
Research is a huge part of law as there is constantly new laws coming into effect, there is legislation being drafted and amended and common law I created with every decision made by a judge. This means that there is constant research needed to be done it these new cases that are relevant to your topic. This process is systematic that involves collecting data to be analysed so a conclusion can be reached. Once the question has been evaluated and the topic area has been identified, the relevant material should be reviewed such as past cases. Sources should then be collected such as the relevant laws, cases, legislation, EU law, any relevant articles in the constitution and the courts that apply the topic. Only credible sources should be used like cases that are found on Lexis library or in the Boole library. It's important when choosing cases that the cases are relevant to your topic as sometimes cases may seem similar but may indeed have slightly different circumstances and using irrelevant cases will lead to a misleading answer. It’s also important to understand what areas of law are legally binding and what areas are not such as the head note of a law report is not legally binding. After these sources are selected, they need to read, and notes taken on them. The relevant information for the topic then needs to be complied, by now the notes should be paraphrased so that the key words have been identified and they are written in your own word, and summarised so the additional information is removed and that it has been shortened. These notes now need to be organised and a plan should be made on how you're going to answer the question. The notes then need to be evaluated and a thesis statement should be written based on the direction your research points you. The thesis statement should identify what you are going to say, how you're going to prove it and why it matters. All the information that has been gathered it needs to be used to build an academic argument. This is done by using statements and the evidence that has been analysed during the research process to support the conclusion the research has pointed. This should convince the reader of the report to accept the conclusion.
This shows that by following the research process will affect your answer. By following the research process your sources will be more accurate and relevant to the topic, the report will have a properly formulated question and will be structured. The answer will also have evidence and statements that support the conclusion forming a proper argument. A strong thesis statement will show what direction you are going with your answer, this direction is based on where the research points, so it is crucial that the research process is followed. Reviewing and editing perfects the answer so that it is an accurate answer. All these factors affect the answer in the report so therefore the research process highly effects the answer as it makes the answer more accurate, clear and structured.
