Q: What is the benefit of using sources of information for writing a research paper?

Actually, using sources of information – in other words, referencing – is not just beneficial for writing a research paper, it’s essential to it. There doesn’t seem to be any form of a scientific article that may not require some amount of referencing, even a perspective piece or a letter to the editor. Referring to other relevant literature in your paper shows well you have researched your topic and therefore know various aspects of your topic. Reading up on other studies may also reveal gaps in those studies that you may wish to cover in your study.

From the perspective of actually writing the research paper, referencing will help you write several sections of the paper – the Introduction for sure, possibly the Discussion and Results, and maybe even the Methods. But of course, you need to list all the references you have provided in the References section at the end of the paper.

How you can discover relevant sources of information is through an organized literature search. Read more about literature search here: Tips for effective literature searching and keeping up with new publications

For help with writing the various sections (known as IMRaD) of the manuscript, you may refer to this article: Tips for writing the perfect IMRAD manuscript

Hope that helps. And all the best with your paper!