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    McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers
    McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers
    McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers
    Ebook217 pages4 hours

    McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers

    By Carol Ellison

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    About this ebook

    Write an effective research paper--no sweat!

    The words “research paper” may send a chill down your spine. You're thinking about the hours of research and the days of writing ahead-and that's after wringing your hands about the topic! Never fear, this concise resource will guide you through the process step-by-step and make the experience painless. With veteran composition instructor Carol Ellison's advice, you'll be able to create a thought-provoking research paper that will get you the best possible grade!

    McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers gives you the tools to:

    • Organize a helpful outline before you write
    • Find solid evidence at the library and on the Internet to back up your thesis
    • Write effective sentences to support your topic
    • Replace common phrases with attention-drawing wording to properly articulate your ideas
    • Use smooth transitions between paragraphs to keep your paper flowing
    • Craft eloquent summaries and conclusions
    • Avoid accidental incidences of plagiarism
    • Run a thorough check over your research paper before you hand it in
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMcGraw-Hill Education
    Release dateJan 29, 2010
    ISBN9780071629904
    McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers

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      McGraw-Hill's Concise Guide to Writing Research Papers - Carol Ellison

      Papers

      Chapter 1

      Getting Started

      Research papers begin with a writing assignment. It may be specific. It may be general. It may assign you a topic and point you in the direction the research should take. Or it may offer a great deal of flexibility, allowing you to pick your topic and stage your own investigation. It serves as a roadmap to what you must do. It is your first clue to what your instructor expects of you. If you have a thorough understanding of what is expected of you, you will be better able to deliver it.

      Tackling a research project is, in many ways, like preparing to run a race. You have no hope of finishing among the leaders if you have no idea where the finishing line is or how to get there. That may sound sophomoric but the vast majority of research projects that end in failure do so because the writer proceeded with no clear idea of what was expected and delivered something off the mark.

      The first step you take in tackling the paper should point you in the direction of a successful finish. You need to know what is expected of you and how to prepare to deliver it. By understanding where you need to end up, you will spare yourself a lot of trial and error in getting there.

      First Steps

      Identify the expectations (due date, length, etc.).

      Interpret the assignment.

      Analyze the audience.

      Choose a topic.

      Write a working thesis.

      Write a proposal.

      Interpreting the Assignment

      Knowing precisely what you need to produce is the first step to producing a perfect paper. Not only will it spare you the frustration of assembling material that may not be appropriate to the assignment, but it will assure you of a better grade. One of the first questions on an instructor’s mind is: Did this student understand the assignment? A student’s ability to deliver what the assignment requests shows the teacher or professor that the student possesses the skills to properly interpret instructions and identify expectations.

      Research papers typically begin with an assignment that identifies your teacher’s expectations and provides the information you need to know to complete the assignment.

      What You Should Know before You Start

      What is the purpose of the assignment? What does your instructor expect you to learn?

      Is there an assigned topic? Can you choose your own?

      What kinds of sources should you use?

      How many sources should you use?

      Are print and online sources equally acceptable?

      When is the paper due?

      How long should it be?

      How should the paper be formatted?

      How should bibliographic information be presented?

      What are the qualities of a paper that gets an A, B, C, or D?

      You cannot produce a perfect paper if you do not know what perfection means to your teacher or the person who will be reading and evaluating it. More important than the basic expectations are those that actually tell you what to do. Assignments are often worded very deliberately to test how well students read, interpret, and respond to the expectations that are outlined. Your instructor may want to know how well you can summarize new ideas and complex material, for instance, or whether you can present a logical argument to support an opinion or advocate an idea. Another assignment might spell out how you should conduct your research by specifying the types of sources you should consult. Others may use words like analyze, discuss, or investigate to describe what is expected. Do not take these words lightly. They have specific meanings. Learn to recognize the learning goals in an assignment.

      When you receive an assignment, read it thoroughly and be prepared to ask your instructor about anything that is unclear to you. Make a list of the stated expectations. True, you already have these on the assignment sheet but writing them down will emphasize them in your mind and help you to remember them. If you receive the criteria for how your paper will be graded, examine them as closely as you do the assignment to determine what you must do to achieve the grade you want. If your teacher does not provide the grading criteria, ask what they are. An example of grading criteria that we use for writing composition classes at Rutgers University Newark campus appears below:

      Grade Criteria

      Grade of A: An essay that merits an A demonstrates a generally high degree of competence and control of language. Typically, such an essay meets all of the following criteria:

      Responds to the assignment thoroughly, thoughtfully, and with insight or originality.

      Demonstrates strong reading comprehension of the assigned texts.

      Is well-developed and supports analysis with effective textual evidence, reasons, examples, and details.

      Is well-focused and well-organized, demonstrating strong control over the conventions of analytical writing.

      Demonstrates facility with language, using effective vocabulary and sentence variety.

      Demonstrates strong control of grammar, the rules of usage, and mechanics of standard English but may have minor errors.

      Grade of B: An essay that receives a B is written in a clearly competent manner and displays generally consistent control of language. Typically, such an essay meets all of the following criteria:

      Responds to all elements of the assignment competently and thoughtfully.

      Demonstrates an adequate understanding of the readings.

      Is adequately developed, using appropriate textual evidences, reasons, examples, and details.

      Is focused and effectively organized, demonstrating control of the conventions of analytical essay writing.

      Demonstrates strong language competence and uses appropriate vocabulary and sentence variety.

      Shows good control of grammar, the rules of usage, and mechanics of standard English, although it may have some errors and minor lapses in quality.

      Grade of C: An essay that earns a grade of C demonstrates some competence but is limited in one or more of the following ways:

      Does not address all parts of the writing assignment.

      Does not demonstrate an adequate understanding of the readings.

      Is thinly developed, often relying on assertions with little textual evidence or few relevant reasons, examples, and details.

      Is adequately focused and/or adequately organized, but connections between the parts could be more explicit.

      Demonstrates limited facility with language and minimal sentence variety.

      Demonstrates inconsistent control of grammar, usage, and the mechanics of writing.

      Grade of D: An essay receives a grade of D if it has one or more of the following flaws:

      Is unclear and/or seriously limited in its response to the writing assignment.

      Demonstrates a limited reading or misreading of the texts.

      Is unfocused and/or disorganized, demonstrating little control of the conventions of analytical essay writing.

      Demonstrates serious errors in the use of language, which may interfere with meaning.

      Demonstrates serious errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics, which may interfere with meaning.

      Grade of F: An essay receives a grade of F when it:

      Demonstrates little or no ability to develop an organized response to the writing assignment.

      Contains severe writing errors that persistently obscure meaning.

      Make note of any specific information or ideas that the assignment asks you to discuss. It helps to raise your hand, ask any questions you may have, and take notes. Any information you receive will help you in your pursuit of the perfect paper.

      Make every effort to ensure that you understand what your instructor is requesting. That way, you know what to deliver.

      Types of Assignments

      Writing assignments are not created equal. The approach you take to receive an A in an assignment for one class will not necessary work well for you in another. You should expect that any writing assignment, whether it is given at the high school or college level, will differ according to the class you are taking and expectations your instructor outlines for the class. Even within a class, an instructor’s expectations are likely to change from assignment to assignment. Getting a good grade is not a function of psyching out your instructor. It is a function of understanding the assignment and what you are being asked to do.

      The High School Level

      In high school, research papers are generally assigned to test a student’s ability to look up information and explain it adequately in his or her own words. Here is a list of the kinds of assignments typically given in high school and what they mean:

      Summary: An abbreviated account of a larger article, book, or other work.

      Examples: Book report, movie review, or a summary of something you read in the news or saw on TV.

      Description: A detailed account of what things look like.

      Descriptions that help readers see what you are talking about are especially useful to clarify events, conditions, or concepts that might be unfamiliar to the reader. Good descriptions make appropriate use of adjectives and adverbs, metaphors, similes, and examples to build readers’ understanding.

      Examples: A history report about life in another time or a geography report about the culture and industries in another country.

      Explanation: A description that tells why certain conditions exist or certain events occur. Explanations attempt to identify the cause or causes that create an effect. They attempt to answer the question, Why?

      Examples: A science report.

      Process: A description of conditions that must exist and actions that must be taken to produce an outcome.

      Examples: Instructions someone should follow to do something successfully, such as following the steps in an experiment, or directions to a destination.

      Narrative: A story about something that happened.

      Narratives are often told in chronological order with a beginning, middle, and end.

      Examples: What I Did on My Summer Vacation

      The University Level

      At the university, a great deal more is expected. Assignments become more complex. Instead of simply asking you to summarize or describe something, the assignment typically will present you with a challenge. Often, too, the assignment is not even called an assignment. Instead, it is called a writing prompt, meaning that the purpose of the assignment is to prompt your thinking and elicit a thorough written response from you. Writing prompts usually call upon the writer to use a combination of the approaches learned in high school (those listed above), as well as employ other approaches and strategies to advance new ideas, opinions, and arguments about the topic under discussion.

      The path to producing a perfect paper begins with understanding what those goals are and how to identify them in the assignment. Below is a list of terms that professors often use in writing prompts and what they mean:

      Analyze relationships among facts, trends, theories, and issues. Point out their significant likes and differences and tell why they are meaningful.

      Argue in defense of (or against) a concept, opinion, position, thesis, or point of view. Strong arguments apply logic and point out fallacies, errors, and fuzzy thinking.

      Categorize or classify items, concepts, or events by sorting them in sets of predefined qualities or conditions according to their similarities.

      Compare and contrast two or more events, ideas, or opinions by identifying their similarities and/or differences. (Look for similarities when you compare two things; look for

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