What's a Research Narrative?

Research should be a quest to find the best evidence. A research narrative tells
the story of that quest, and all of its inevitable twists and turns.

A research narrative is a chronological account of your research activities. 

In a research narrative. the writer recounts the story of the research: what happened, when it happened, the sources found and read, and realizations or insights about the topic or process. This type of narrative is wonderfully suited for keeping track of a writer's progress while completing a long-term research project. It's less formal than an annotated bibliography, but it's more complete than just pages of notes.

Take Chronological Notes in a Research Journal

In order to recreate your process and realizations accurately, you should take careful notes while you work, reflecting on what you've already completed and what you're about to complete. Bullet points or numbered points work great for these kinds of notes. Always take a moment to record any realizations about the topic or process you have as you have them. Record quotations and citations as you read your sources. Once you've completed your research project and are no longer  actively working on gathering or reviewing sources, you can stop taking notes for your narrative and begin choosing the "important" parts of the story. Which bits of research lead you to a conclusion about your topic? Which realizations or insights added momentum to your process? What were the moments that meant the most to you or changed the direction of your research? You may want to highlight or circle or rewrite the important notes as a way to organize your thoughts or create an outline. After you organize your notes and make decisions about which notes to weave into a story, you can begin drafting the body of your narrative.

Draft the Body of the Narrative

The body of the narrative will be your retelling of the research story. Look closely at your notes and your decisions about which details were the most important. Let those important notes be your guiding principle. Following any outline or organizational principle you've created, include any and all details that emphasize or inform the importance of those moments and realizations you've identified as important. For example, you might not normally include going to the restroom as an important part of a story. However, if you met a friend in the restroom, discussed your research with her, and had an epiphany about the topic because of that discussion, you may want to include details about that trip to the restroom in the narrative.  Create the scene with dialogue. Likewise, you may not normally want to detail three hours of fruitless searching in the library databases. However, if the fruitlessness of your search informs your conclusions about the topic, those hours should be part of the story. Again, create the scene. Explain how your five senses played a part in those three hours. Let the scene show the reader your frustrations instead of just telling the reader you were frustrated.

Just as with any document that contains source content, be sure to use an appropriate documentation style to cite any source content that makes its way into your final draft.

Draft the Narrative Frame

All good stories have a point, and all good stories have a genesis or "inciting incident." In a narrative, the point of the story, or the thesis, appears in the conclusion. The introduction generally includes information about why the writer is telling the story without giving away the point of the story. The goal is to make the reader want to experience the events of the story so that he or she can come to the conclusion in the same way the writer came to the conclusion - after the natural progression of events. The "trick," if it really is one, is simply to be honest and remain in the realm of  nonfiction. So, after completing the body of the narrative, you should think carefully about the overall lesson, revelation, or insight you gleaned from the research experience. Although information from sources should be shared within the body of the essay, along the way, the conclusion is not the place for recapping source content as it might be in an academic research essay. In a narrative, the reader desires a more universal and thematic thesis: a lesson about the topic that reflects "a universal" insight about life. Not only do you tell the reader what you learned about the topic, in other words, but you tell the reader what you learned about your broader world by completing the research.

A research narrative is a record of actions and realizations you have about your research topic as you are in the midst of the research process. By taking thorough notes, choosing important moments, and drafting content as scenes, you can complete the entire body of your narrative. Complete the narrative by explaining the impetus for your research in the introduction, and your insights about the topic (and life) in the conclusion. Get the reader to take the research journey with you, and you will have created a successful research narrative.

Want to read more about narratives? Try

Prewriting a Narrative Essay
Why Write a Narrative Essay: The Power of Narrative
The Power of Story: The Power of Narrative




Copyright Amy Lynn Hess. Please contact the author for permission to republish.