Having reliable sources is the key to writing a successful paper, as these sources will be the support for your argument. There are at least three things that you must know about an author when deciding if you should rely on them:
When. You need to know when the author wrote, and when he studied. Did he stay in the academic field long? Did he write recently enough to be able to encounter and address any key arguments in his field? Have other writers responded to his writing? Note that your research should be composed of a wide variety of sources from several years, but that you must always have sources that were published very recently.
Where. It is very important to research not only where this author wrote, and what publication they were published in, but to know where they studied as well. Did they study under an important scholar? What influence can be seen from this in their work? This will help you decide just how this author fits into your paper. Before getting to this, however, you must address how credible the source is by addressing where he or she worked, or where they were published. Is he a professor at a well-known university? Was his book published by the Oxford University Press? These are important questions to consider, as they show you just how well-known and influential this scholar was.
What. After deciding how credible the scholar is, you need to research what he primarily wrote about or studied. Is the writing you have from him in his usual field? If it is not, you may not want to rely on it so heavily. What did he write about mostly? Besides what he himself wrote, you should also be aware of where he has been cited. If he is a source that you found obscurely, you will need to prove his other credentials to make him seem the most credible.
Understanding all of these things will allow you to make sure that you are the most informed researcher, and that your argument is the best supported.
Finding a Topic to Write About
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When looking into a research topic, you should choose a topic that you are able to research and enjoy. Wondering what your topic should be? It should be all of the following:
Something you know. You do not want to begin with a subject that you have little knowledge about, as you will not know what work will be required in order to get an excellent grade on the research paper. Understanding the topic at the beginning means that you will know that you have a viable topic that you will be able to research, and that your topic is just narrow enough to not be overwhelming.
Something you enjoy. You should choose a topic, if you can, on something that you would gladly keep reading and learning about. If the topic is interesting to you, you are more likely to be zealous in your research and faster in your comprehension. If it is a long term project, you should find something that will keep your interest for more than a few days, as this will not only keep you excited about the paper longer, but will make your time more pleasant. Also, if you enjoy a topic, you are more likely to be able to make connections and fuller arguments because you will have a fuller background to pull from. This is because your mind is more fully engaged in a project when you are interested in it.
Something to challenge you. If you are working on a long-term project, it is best to create a topic that, while still familiar to you, breaks into new ground, requiring fresh analysis and research. Finding this balance between familiar and new can be difficult to learn, but makes a project so much more fulfilling when it is reached. While you should be able to pull from the large background of what you already know, you should also be required to encounter new ideas and theories. Connecting these new theories to each other and to what you already know is the core and beauty of your paper.