1. Isolate 2-3 research questions you feel have potential to fascinate you for the next few weeks, and then start reading. Read enough in popular media that you can feel confident enough to get to academic articles in Ebsco’s Academic Search. Commit to a research question. Refine it to be specific and interesting to you.
2. As you read on the subject, keep a Drive document open. If what you’re reading seems like it might be useful, import bibliographic information into the document, and write a very quick summary of the article. Share this document with me… we’ll call it your WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY (put it in MLA or APA format, depending on your topic). There should be plenty of sources in it. You’re just gathering possible resources at this point, not taking notes. This is preliminary research. You'll likely not use all of them.
3. Also develop a PROSPECTUS OF YOUR RESEARCH: What’s your research question? What sorts of answers are you beginning to find? What do you need to find out more about? To the extent you can, define the topics and scope of your research paper. Can you begin to draft your thesis, your central claim, the point you'll make? It's a provisional document, a place to reflect.
4. Take notes. You'll want a mix of facts and expert commentary, one fascinating, in-depth idea on each index card. Use quotation marks when quoting. Each index card should also be tagged with its source and page (or section).
5. Use the process we have practiced to sort your cards into topics - potential paragraph - by pile. Use the piles to create an outline: one page on which you sketch the organization. Can you see what the topic is of each paragraph? Do some paragraphs fit together into discreet sections? This is where you will decide the sequence of your argument.
If you find yourself using only one source in a paragraph or section, you have not done enough synthesis. You're on your way to a book report. Stop summarizing. What connections are you seeing? What points do YOU want to make? You should be relating your sources to one another, by contrast if nothing else.
6. Compose the body of the paper, a paragraph at a time. Again, share the document with me on Drive.
DO NOT begin with your introduction. Instead, pick a pile of note cards, write your topic sentence, and then guide us through that pile of ideas. Use signal phrases and cite religiously. Be sure to explain the significance of each fact, the relationship of the facts to each other... finally, explain SO WHAT: remember... we want fully realized paragraphs!
7. Compose your introduction. It may take two or three paragraphs, but think about your introduction this way:
Hook: Tell us a story or give us an image that fascinates us. Write vividly and concretely, so that we are automatically interested in your topic.
Transition: Make us understand the relevance of your hook to your thesis, and give us the background we will need to understand your argument. Is there some sort of controversy in this topic? are there terms we'll need to understand? are there particular scholars who have their panties in a twist?
Thesis: What will your paper show us? Your thesis should take no more than two sentences, and should point out the deep, complex conclusion you've reached through your research.
8. Compose your conclusion. Again, your conclusion may take two or three paragraphs.
Thesis: Remind us what all this adds up to. What is your point?
Transition: How does this resolve arguments that have been swirling around this topic? What are the implications of your research? What are the applications of this argument, or this line of thinking more generally?
Close the frame: Apply your thoughts to your hook. What does all this imply for the future of... the subject of your anecdote or image?
9. Convert your working bibliography into a Works Cited or References page. Include ONLY those sources you actually cited.
10. Get response. Revise as needed.
11. Proofread, get editing help, make it perfect!