How do you know if a piece of research work is good or not? How are they evaluated?

All students are required to write research papers at some point during their. In conducting a research, you are basically conducting a search for facts: little tidbits of truth that you will assemble and arrange in an organized way. Your first responsibility as a researcher is to understand the difference between fact and fiction—and also the difference between fact and opinion. In addition, you need to offer a rationale telling why your problem is a good one and what methods you plan to use for gathering and analyzing your data. Furthermore, students' intentions, as reflected in how they phrase their project proposals, can suggest that they are not seeking an answer to a significant question but, rather, are trying to get readers to accept a belief that those students already cherish and wish to propagate. Such intent can be implied when they introduce their project with such a phrase as "My purpose is to prove that. . . ." or "I will demonstrate that. . . ." or "This study will make it clear that. . . ." Therefore, if you know at the outset exactly what conclusions will be drawn at the end of your project, then the project qualifies as propagandizing or salesmanship rather than research.

In determining if a piece of research work is good or not we need to have a checklist of the things we want our research paper would look like or what its content will be. Is the paper too long? Is the paper well organized? Are the design and analysis sound? Do the conclusions follow from the results? Has the author cited all relevant references? Are all the tables and figures necessary? Are the title and abstract fully descriptive of the text? Any ethical concerns with the paper? Are the statistics satisfactory? Is the task you propose for yourself really research, or is it something else?

Will the outcomes of your research be considered significant by the readers for whom your project is intended? A topic that you select may qualify as research, yet still not be considered a suitable thesis or dissertation problem. One reason is that the task you pose for yourself may be too simple, in that it fails to represent the complexity and level of expertise expected of a person who deserves a graduate degree. A second reason is that the answer you hope to derive from your investigation appears to be insignificant, so readers' would respond to your results with "So what?" or "Who cares?" Therefore, in originally presenting your topic, you are obliged to indicate for whom--and why--an answer to your research question is important.

There are some basic characteristics of good research papers that students should be aware of if they are interested in excelling academically. First, a good research paper is written about the subject that a professor assigned or that a student selected as his or her paper subject. There may be a more specific sub-topic that a student addresses in the paper, but good research papers always stay on track with the assignment or subject. The most important rule to remember when writing a paper is to follow the instructions your teacher provides. Teachers always have the prerogative to decide what rules, formats, or procedures they prefer for any paper, so the teacher’s guidelines for any assignment will rule against instructions you find on the Internet or in a style guide.

Next, a good research paper will flow well. This means that ideas will be connected and sensible so that the reader knows exactly what the writer is saying. In order to make a research paper flow well, students should spend some time drafting outlines for their term papers. These outlines should help the student to ensure that he or she includes an appropriate amount of content and that ideas flow well from one to the next. The paper outline is also much easier to revise than a paper draft. Therefore, a sign of a good research paper is that it always begins with a research paper outline before the student creates the first draft.

After the student has created a research paper outline, the student can begin filling the outline in as a first draft. Good papers will not only be drafted once, but they will also be revised several times until the student feels that the paper says exactly what he or she wishes to say in the most concise and congruent manner.
A student can use the same level of research to write either a good paper or a bad paper. The difference between a good paper and a term paper often comes down to basic writing skills. Therefore, many students benefit by working with a professional writer or an on-campus writing center in order to improve their writing skills and effectiveness.

Another thing to be considered in writing a research paper is that be realistic about how much the average reader will take away from an article. Non-experts will retain at most a single message. Make sure you have one, and then repeat it over and over again—at the end of the abstract, in the introduction, in the results, and in the discussion. Include different levels at which your results are significant. This is particularly important for papers that you are trying to get into top tier journals. A good paper is not a random accumulation of facts. Give your paper a narrative structure that links from one finding to another. This can be the logical order of why one experiment was done in response to another, or you can describe from the beginning to the end of a pathway. Build up this structure by writing notes, in any order, and then rearranging them so that there are logical links.
Writing a research paper is more straightforward and concise than other types of writing. Avoid using clever, flowing, or poetic phrases in your science paper. Dramatic or emotional statements sound out of place. Use active verbs. Avoid using passive verbs. For instance, instead of saying “When the lights were turned off, the mice reacted… you could say “The mice reacted when I turned off the lights.” Do not misuse terms. Some words, like "variable" and "significant result" have very specific meanings in the science world. Be careful not to repeat scientific terms in your paper unless you have a clear understanding of what they mean. Make sure it is free of spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors. Also, check to make sure you’ve included every source in your bibliography. Finally, check the original instructions from your teacher to make sure you are following all assigned preferences, like title page directions and placement of page numbers.

Many papers are badly written. To avoid this, good writing is a skill you can learn. It’s a skill that is worth learning because this may result to more papers accepted, ideas will have more impact and you will have better ideas. This also forces us to be clear, focused and crystallises what we don’t understand. Papers are far more durable than programs. Experts are good. Non-experts are also very good. Each reader can only read your paper for the first time once. Explain carefully what you want.
Research source is also a factor that will affect what your paper will be. Sometimes, misinterpretations on facts and fiction will be a problem. One of which is Blogs. As you know, anybody can publish a blog on the Internet. This poses an obvious problem with using a blog as a research source, as there is no way to know the credentials of many bloggers or to get an understanding of the writer’s level of expertise. Many people create blogs to give themselves a forum to express their views and opinions. Next is Personal Web Sites. A web page is much like a blog when it comes to being an unreliable research source. Web pages are created by the public, so you have to be very careful when choosing them as sources. It's sometimes difficult to determine which web sites are created by experts and professionals on a given topic. Wiki web sites can be very informative, but they can also be untrustworthy. Wiki sites allow groups of people to add and edit the information contained on the pages. The question that always arises when it comes to homework and research is whether it’s OK to use Wikipedia as a source of information. Wikipedia is a great site with a lot of fantastic information, and a possible exception to the rule. One thing is for certain: Wikipedia offers a reliable overview of a topic to give you a strong foundation to start with. It also provides a list of resources where you can continue your own research. Students also believe that historical novels are trustworthy, because they state that they are “based on facts.” There is a difference between a factual work and a work that is based on facts. A novel that is based on a single fact can still contain ninety-nine percent fiction. Never use a historical novel as a history resource.

The Internet makes it possible to directly reach people we’d have never thought possible even a decade ago. Google the leading voice in the field you’re writing about: a professor of chemistry at MIT, a leadership guru, a corporate anthropologist at Intel, and so on — chances are you’ll come across an email address, or at least a mailing address. Write to them, explain your project, and ask a few questions. The worst that can happen is they’ll ignore your request (so write a few people for backup).