The Research Paper
This semester project is intended to teach you how to educate yourself about a
topic of your choosing. As a responsible, mature seeker of knowledge, you must not be
restricted to whether or not you are enrolled in a class or whether or not the instructor is
effective. The research paper methods should permit you to explore any topic of interest
and lead you to the formulation of an assertive, debatable thesis which you can support
with relevant examples in the form of a cogent, effective argument.
The method of discourse you use will be primarily argument with less focus on
exposition or background. If you find you need more exposition than you can
comfortably include in the opening paragraph, you may include it as a section
immediately following the opening paragraph and preceding the first division. Be careful
to control this, however; it should be no more than one page in length.
The strategies you incorporate ought to include all that we have covered except
process (no second person writing please), and personal experience (no first person
writing, please). This is a very formal exercise in logic and, as such, it requires an
exalted writer’s stance. Thus, instead of the examples of support coming from your own
experiences, they will now come from others’. This does not change the structure of the
writing, only the tone. You are still expected to assert a point and then to prove it with
examples.
Do not make the mistake of thinking that all you need to do is marshal a group of
quotations which say what you believe. This is your paper, not someone else’s; thus, you
should write the paper, arguing its thesis, and using the experts only to support what you
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believe is true. The paper must be more than a series of quotations strung together by
transitions.
Your purpose in writing this paper ought to be the same as it was in writing the
argument theme. A reader should finish reading convinced that your position makes
clear sense, that it has been reasoned intelligently, and that your conclusion is inarguable.
Since the paper is about three times the length of the argument theme (about 3,000
words), the length compounds your responsibility and complicates your approach. You
must use an outline to organize the paper.
To choose a topic for the research paper you must examine yourself and your
interests. The best topic is one which you need or want to find out about. It ought to be
something in which you’re interested, something you already know a little about,
something you would like to know more about, something connected with your career or
major, or something which you can use in another class. Build as many positive reasons
into your subject choice as you can to reward yourself for success later on. For help in
choosing a topic, log on to the Phoenix College home page, select Library, then Research
Help, and then go to “Research: Selecting a Subject.”
Once you have chosen your topic, begin narrowing it. This is a constant process
which does not end until you finish the paper itself. Survey the Computer-Catalog and
make 3” x 5” bibliography cards for everything that is relevant or useful. Be reasonable
in your search, however. If you’ve determined that for AIDS you need check nothing
before 2000, then omit anything published before then from consideration. Having
checked the books, then check the Magazine Index or other periodical indexes
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more useful to or more specific for your topic. Again, try to limit your field of research
to those years that will be useful; you cannot read everything on any subject for this
assignment. Once you have checked a source, be certain to add a note to the bibliography
card, indicating the scope and usefulness of the source.
After you’ve made your preliminary search for available materials, it is time for
you to begin your background reading. Begin this stage by reading the article(s) in the
encyclopedias or Wikipedia. Do not take notes on what you read as background. The
articles are quite general, containing material already known to those people who are
experts on your subject. This will be difficult, but resist the urge to copy down
interesting background or even facts from your general background reading.
Once you have narrowed your topic sufficiently, begin the actual search for
relevant material which means to simultaneously narrow the topic to a workable thesis.
Try to get to the thesis as quickly as you can without rushing, for everything that follows
depends on its usefulness. Once you have sufficient material, check with me on the
actual wording of the thesis. You and I have to agree on it. Once we do agree, you will
complete the contract and use the exact thesis in the actual paper.
As you are reading and researching, record specific bits of information onto 4” x
6” note cards. Each card should be independent, not connected to any other card and not
a continuation of another card. Use a shortened form of the author’s name (ofr if
anonymous, the title) to identify its source. Use quotations, paraphrases, or a
combination of the two. In fact, the combination card is usually the best. Also be
attentive to thoughts that occur to you as you are researching. When a new thought
occurs to you, write it onto a card and label it “mine.”
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After you have determined the thesis of the paper, the following steps should be
much easier. Your restriction of thesis ought to imply the divisions; they should grow
naturally out of your assertion. Using the thesis, then, sketch the rough draft outline. Use
sentences for at least the Roman numeral entries if not throughout the outline.
Advantages of using sentences are that you will be forced to think through the
connections (instead of deferring this stage until later), and when you write the paper
those sentences can be used as they are without re-writing. Make sure that the outline
allows relatively equal length for each of the three divisions, and be certain that the
divisions are parallel. After you have finished the rough draft outline, assign each
division Roman numeral and sub-division alphabetic letters to the 4” x 6” note cards,
such as I-D for a card which belongs to the first division, sub-division D. When you have
done this with all the cards, you will have four stacks of cards, one for each division and
one for the cards which do not fit naturally anywhere. Some of this material may be used
in the introduction or the conclusion, but some of it cannot be used as it will be
repetitious or not effectively stated. Do not discard the cards, however.
Having keyed the cards to the outline, go back to the outline and write the
material into the outline itself. Don’t just add it; integrate it into the fabric of the
structure. Make certain that you have about the same number of citations for each
division. If you have twelve for division one, eleven for division two, and two for
division three, you either haven’t finished with division three, or it is not parallel. Either
you need to return to the library to continue your research, or you need to change the
third division.
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When you are satisfied that you have a usable rough draft outline and that the
material you intend to use is substantial and parallel, you must write the opening
paragraph. This the most important part of the finished paper, so do not slight it. Plan to
spend at least two hours on roughing it out, re-writing it, and polishing it. Use the same
A-B-C-D structure as you have used before except that now there will be no overt
statement of writer’s stance. Since your only background material will appear here
(unless you add the extra section following the opening paragraph), this is the place that
you must establish the pre-conditions of your subject. You must disclose your
assumptions about what your topic means.
Once the opening paragraph is finished, go on to write the paper. Be absolutely
certain that you restate the thesis and division at the beginning of every division. This is
much more important here than it was even for the argument theme because you’re using
three times as much material and it is more complicated. In addition, use creative
repetition and artful restatement throughout each division to remind the reader just where
you’re going and what you’re arguing. Try to compose the rough draft in one writing
session. That is, plan so that you do not interrupt the writing. However, if this isn’t
feasible, at least compose each division in an uninterrupted session.
The conclusion should write itself once you have finished the paper. This means
that it should come as a natural culmination of your thinking that went into the
formulation and defense of your thesis. It should never be just a bare restatement of the
thesis and divisions. Show that your argument is the logical one for this subject; show
what its impact will be on other related matters; show that your paper is only the
beginning of the total impact of this subject you’ve been considering.
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After you have finished the rough draft, put the paper aside for a day or two.
Longer than this allows the material to grow stale, and shorter than this is not sufficient
for you to develop the distance needed to evaluate what you have written. When you
return to the rough draft, be very critical about what you have written. Use the pen as an
extension of your critical thinking faculties. Evaluate the parts of the paper first: does
the introduction prepare the reader for the paper that follows? Do the division naturally
extend the thesis? Are they roughly parallel? Do you use paragraph breaks where they
serve to remind the reader of subtle changes of topics? Does each division lead naturally
into the next? Are they in the correct order? Does the conclusion effectively conclude
your treatment of the subject?
Now go back to the paper and evaluate every single paragraph as a miniature
piece of logic or reasoning. It should be complete in and of itself, yet it should lead
naturally on to the paragraph that follows, and it ought to point back to earlier ones.
Does it have a useful topic sentence? Are there sufficient examples to prove your point?
Does it have a conclusion (if it needs one)?
After evaluating the paragraphs, you must evaluate the sentences. Are there any
structural errors, such as fragments, comma splices, run-ons, or even absolutes? Correct
them, if so. Do the sentences lead naturally on to following sentences? Are they
constructed with sufficient variety so that the reader will not become bored? Have you
integrated the quoted or paraphrased material smoothly enough that it doesn’t jar?
Finally, examine every word in the paper. There should be no extra words, and
the level of diction ought to be almost totally formal. This means no first person, no
second person, no colloquialisms, no slang, no jargon, and no gobbledygook.
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At this point you will need to re-cast the rough draft into a second draft to make
certain that it is improved and to allow yourself to prepare an acceptable final version. In
fact, four drafts for this assignment is often standard. The final draft ought to be the one
you spend least time on since all it does is present the results of your thinking and
reasoning. It must be typed. Follow standard conventions of typing and pagination.
Prepare a final title page, outline pages, text, and works cited as our book suggests and
illustrates.
For help on notes, note cards, and works cited, go to NoodleBib on the Phoenix
College Library page. I urge you to do both the “Getting Started” and the “Tutorial.”
This assignment is intended as both a learning device and as a testing device.
That is, you will profit from the experience of actually teaching yourself about a subject;
when you finish, you should be an expert on your topic. In addition, I will assess your
approach to researching and writing a research paper. Thus, the methods you use of
preparing bibliography cards, note cards, and so on are subject to constructive criticism
with the purpose of improving your methods for the next time you have to do this type of
assignment. You may also rewrite your paper to improve the writing and to raise the
grade. This must be arranged on an individual basis, however. It is a testing device, too,
because I will record a grade for the final paper you submit.
This assignment is worth three hundred points toward the final grade, and you
may earn extra credit by submitting it early. I will award you ten or fifteen points extra
credit for every class period it is submitted early, to a maximum of one hundred points.
This assignment will take you much longer than probably any other project you
do this semester. I estimate approximately forty hours will be required. If you do the
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work in stages, you should produce a substantial paper you can show people as the best
of your work, and it should represent your best since it is the culmination of two
semesters’ learning.
I expect you to use the following six types of material in your research paper:
book, reference work (excluding general encyclopedia), newspaper, refereed journal, on-
line source, and personal interview which you conduct. Do not rely exclusively on the
internet for your research. Since we are using in-text documentation, you do not need to
bother with the mechanics of constructing footnotes or endnotes. Even so, NoodleBib
can assist you in this process. When you submit this assignment, I expect you to hand in
all relevant materials, including annotated bibliography cards, note cards, copies of
articles you have duplicated, rough draft, second and third drafts (labeled, please), and
final draft. Of course, this means you cannot submit the assignment by e-mail. If you
submit the final draft only, I will not grade the paper since this assignment is meant to
measure your procedural approach in addition to assessing the product you create.
For help on this assignment, see William Coyle’s Research Papers, check the
computer-Catalogue under “Writing Research Papers,” or use NoodleBib. You may also
go to the Learning Center or come to see me (B-150).
Good luck.
