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How to Write a Research Paper - Part 5

Submitted by Ken Watts on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 15:22

IN THE PREVIOUS FOUR PARTS of this series, I've explained a process for building a research outline from the bottom up, letting the research itself dictate the shape of the final outline.

It began with a question, instead of a thesis, and proceeded by dividing that question into sub-questions, based on the research process, until you ended up with an outline for the final paper.

Each section under the outline begins with a question, which is some small part of the main research question.

That question is followed by one or more notes or quotes from sources in your research which, together, suggest an answer to the question.

Those notes or quotes are followed by a summary, which explains exactly how they address the question, and what the answer is.

At this point you are ready to write the paper, or at least the first draft, depending on your teacher's preferences.

The good news is that if you've followed the process faithfully you should find this step very easy.

  1. Make a fresh copy of the research outline, name it something else so you can always go back to your notes if you make a mistake or delete something, and begin editing.

    Your goal is to keep the basic outline you already have intact, while making sure you explain it clearly to the reader.

    The sub-question, and sub-sub-question (and any sub-sub-subs, or sub-sub-sub-subs) will become topic sentences in most cases.

    You may need to add a section here or there to explain something that doesn't really need to be supported by research, and you'll occasionally add sentences just to make transitions flow. You may also want to add explanations about how the various issues (questions) relate to each other.

    The notes will pretty much write themselves.

    For example:
    1. How do people think the law and morality should relate?
      1. According to their official website, Planned Parenthood takes the position that, "Decisions about childbearing should be made by women, their families, and their doctors — not by politicians." (http://www.plannedparenthood.org/issues-action/abortion-issues-5946.htm)
      2. James Dobson's website takes the position...

    ...might end up reading like:

    One difference between the opposing views involves differing beliefs about the relationship of law and morality. According to their official website, Planned Parenthood takes the position that, "Decisions about childbearing should be made by women, their families, and their doctors — not by politicians." (15) They believe that moral views such as these should not be made by the government. On the other hand, James Dobson's site...

    I put in the "(15)" as a sort of random indication that there will be some sort of endnote or other reference there, depending on the format your teacher requires.

    Move the bibliographical information for each note to your bibliography page as you edit the paragraph and insert the reference.

    Each paragraph introduces and answers the sub-question it's related to. If there are a lot of sub-questions under any given larger question, you may need to add a paragraph, summing up how those sub-answers answer the larger question.

    Ultimately, you come to the conclusion of the entire paper, where you summarize how the research answers the original question.

    And, aside from making sure that your bibliography meets your teacher's requirements, that's it.

    If you're reading this as a teacher, the outline above gives you a series of assignments:

    1. Develop an initial real research question. (This can be turned in for teacher approval—the main purpose being to assure that the question will actually be a good guide to research)
    2. Begin research, using a word processor, and collect notes and their related sub-questions. (This can be turned in to check that students are doing their note-taking, source recording, and sub-question generation correctly. It's also an opportunity to refine, or even change the initial research question in light of what the student is learning.)
    3. Finish bulk of research. Make sure that the question and sub-question outline is clearly structured to show the relationships of all the information. (This can be checked for holes in the research and structural problems. Again, the research question can be modified here as well.)
    4. Final Outline. (This can be turned in as a completed research outline which includes the notes, for a final check before the outline is edited into a paper.)
    5. Final paper. (Of, if you prefer, a first attempt at a final paper, which can serve as a draft if it's not ready for prime time.)

    You'll notice that the above series of assignments puts a great more stress on the research process, and lets you see what students are doing in that process, better than the more traditional approach.

    You'll also notice that using this approach encourages both the structure and the thesis to emerge from the research, rather than being imposed upon it.

    But don't forget that your students will have to be prepared for teachers who simply insist on the old approach. If you're teaching a course in research writing, you'll have to teach them how to deal with problems like being required to turn in outlines or theses before doing the research.

    We do live in the real world.

    At least, that's what I think today.