What is a Research Project?

To put it simply; a research project is a large piece of formal, detailed writing, with images and external sources that explores an idea or subject. It is usually done to increase ones knowledge on something and give them the ability to learn more. As put forward by Successful Writing "A research paper presents an original thesis, or purpose statement, about a topic and develops that thesis with information gathered from a variety of sources."

Potential content in a research project is similar to a book, in that there's a front cover followed by a bulk of writing. Content may include primary and secondary research, statistics to back up points, images on occasion and lastly extracts from past publications, data from documentaries and films. Throughout the research project the writing should be of a formal, detailed standard and use Harvard referencing. This means that references must be listed in a research journal/bibliography in a Harvard Referencing format (Author, Year of Publication, Title, Place of Publication, Publisher) for books.