Step 4: Organizing Research and the Writers Ideas
Like the five sentence trick, this technique makes the writing process simpler. Instead of putting the main focus on writing well, it instead forces you to researchwell, which some students find easier. For example, in our paper on Mansfield Park, we might realize the argument would be stronger with more direct consideration of the protagonist Fanny Price, and decide to try to find space for this in paragraph IV. Quantitative methods deal with the data expressed in numbers. They are used for measuring or dividing things into categories, e.g., in business or computer sciences. Here are some examples of quantitative methods:
Look critically at where your meaning could be conveyed in a more effective way or in fewer words, and watch out for common sentence structure mistakes like run-on sentences and sentence fragments: Introductions are often the hardest part to write because youre trying to summarize your entire essay before youve even written it yet. Instead, try writing your introduction last, giving yourself the body of the paper to figure out the main point of your essay. You have to find out for yourself what works best for you, though it is fair to say that at least some planning is always a good idea. Think about whether your current practices are serving you well. You know youre planning too little if the first draft of your essays is always a disorganized mess, and you have to spend a disproportionate amount of time creating reverse outlines and cutting and pasting material. You know youre planning too much if you always find yourself writing your paper a day before its due after spending weeks doing research and devising elaborate plans. The character of Mrs. Norris provides another example of the performance of morals in Mansfield Park. Early in the novel, she is described in scathing terms as one who knows how to dictate liberality to others: but her love of money was equal to her love of directing (p. 7).
This hypocrisy does not interfere with her self-conceit as the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world (p. 7). Mrs. Norris is strongly concerned with appearing charitable, but unwilling to make any personal sacrifices to accomplish this. Instead, she stage-manages the charitable actions of others, never acknowledging that her schemes do not put her own time or money on the line. In this way, Austen again shows us a character whose morally upright behavior is fundamentally a performancefor whom the goal of doing good is less important than the goal of seeming good. You may know the answers to these questions off the top of your head. If you are like most people, however, you find answers to tough questions like these by searching the Internet, visiting the library, or asking others for information. To put it simply, you perform research. When you begin planning, ask the following questions: What type of essay am I going to be writing? Does it belong to a specific genre? In university, you may be asked to write, say, a book review, a lab report, a document study, or a compare-and-contrast essay. Knowing the patterns of reasoning associated with a genre can help you to structure your essay.
When you have completed your first draft, and you think your paper can be better organized, consider using a reverse outline. Reverse outlines are simple to create. Just read through your essay, and every time you make a new point, summarize it in the margin. If the essay is reasonably well-organized, you should have one point in the margin for each paragraph, and your points read out in order should form a coherent argument. You might, however, discover that some of your points are repeated at various places in your essay. Other points may be out of place, and still other key points may not appear at all. Think of all these points as the ingredients of an improved outline which you now must create. Use this new outline to cut and paste the sentences into a revised version of your essay, consolidating points that appear in several parts of your essay while eliminating repetition and creating smooth transitions where necessary. Although this list suggests that there is a simple, linear process to writing such a paper, the actual process of writing a research paper is often a messy and recursive one, so please use this outline as a flexible guide. As you may recall from Chapter 8 The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?, to narrow the focus of your topic, you may try freewriting exercises, such as brainstorming.
When planning a research essay you are looking for - The goal at this stage is to get a draft completed, not to make everything perfect as you go along. Once you have a full draft in front of you, youll have a clearer idea of where improvement is needed.
You may also need to ask a specific research questiona broad, open-ended question that will guide your researchas well as propose a possible answer, or a working thesis. You may use your research question and your working thesis to create a research proposal. In a research proposal, you present your main research question, any related subquestions you plan to explore, and your working thesis. How do you create a preliminary outline? First, realize that all research papers will start with an introduction and end with a conclusion. In between, there are usually three to five points that must be covered in order to answer the question sufficiently. Use your word processors built-in spell check, but dont expect to find 100 of issues in this way. Read through your text line by line, watching out for problem areas highlighted by the software but also for any other issues it might have missed. A useful alternative involves using both white and coloured cards. When you come up with a point that you think may be one of the main points in your outline, write it at the top of a coloured card. Put each supporting note on a separate white card, using as much of the card as necessary. When you feel ready, arrange the coloured cards into a workable plan.
Step 2: Planning and Scheduling
Some of the points may not fit in. If so, either modify the plan or leave these points out. You may need to fill gaps by creating new cards. You can shuffle your supporting material into the plan by placing each of the white cards behind the point it helps support. Selecting a topic can be the most challenging part of a research assignment. Since this is the very first step in writing a paper, it is vital that it be done correctly. Here are some tips for selecting a topic: Here you should explain why youve chosen a particular methodology for your project. Show why your approach is the most appropriate one, and why other methods are not suitable. Heres the list of the most common disadvantages: The biggest reason writing an essay is so hard is because we mostly focus on those externalrewards like getting a passing grade, winning our teachers approval, or just avoiding accusations of plagiarism. Its good to keep in mind that using anyone elses words, even when morphed into your own phrasing, requires citation. While the definition of plagiarism is shifting with the rise of online collaboration and cooperative learning environments, alwayserr on the side of excessive citation to be safe. In your initial draft, its common to end up with a lot of sentences that are poorly formulated.
Most essay outlines will never be handed in. They are meant to serve you and no one else. Occasionally, your professor will ask you to hand in an outline weeks prior to handing in your paper. Usually, the point is to ensure that you are on the right track. Nevertheless, when you produce your outline, you should follow certain basic principles. Here is an example of an outline for an essay onHamlet: The best time to have your fun is the first draft. Since youre just brainstorming within the topic, and exploring the possible ways of approaching it, the first draft is the perfect place to get creative and even a little scandalous. Here are some wild suggestions to make your next essay a load of fun: The purpose of proposal writing is to persuade others that your topic needs to be investigated. Your task is to write a well-structured text that covers all the necessary points. Make sure that everyone can understand what you wish to investigate, why it is important, and how you are going to do it.