Chapter 12 The Research Process: Critical Essays and Research Papers

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 2 Chapter overview Looks at two of the most common writing assignments: critical essays and research projects Examines the genres Overviews the research process Follows one student as she does a project for her history class

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 3 Critical essays Sample critical essays are generally short papers, ranging from 3 to 7 pages, focusing on a question or issue. Student must use sources to “make sense of how authorities in a field define key issues and present interpretations.”

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 4 Research projects Research projects are bigger undertakings than critical essays. The page length for research projects tends to range from eight to 20 pages or more; students use more sources and will probably spend more time on the project.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 5 What are faculty looking for? Whether writing a critical essay or research project, faculty expect you to do the following things, page 391: To work with your sources To create your own research space To identify the central discussion, debate, and controversies

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 6 Sample critical essay, MLA Pages , “The Dilemma of Empire” Context: written for a course in international relations Assignment: analyze a set of readings and explain key differences The text looks at her essay and analyzes how she handled the assignment.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 7 Two strategies First, she establishes the context of issues to be discussed in the first three paragraphs. Second, she introduces two key terms starting in paragraph four. She then explains the purpose of her essay and explains how those terms will be used.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 8 Sample research project, MLA Chapter next presents a research project, also done in MLA style. This paper (pages ) was written for a first-year writing course.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 9 Analysis of sample research paper An analysis follows that examines his strategies in the paper. It extends past research by applying it to new cases. It identifies a gap in the existing research.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 10 Checklist – MLA and APA style See the shaded box, page 410. It points out four features common to MLA and APA. Double-space manuscript Use a one-inch margin all around Indent paragraphs five spaces Number pages consecutively, including Works Cited or References pages

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 11 Checklist – MLA style Unless instructed, don’t include a separate title page; see page 410 for more details on how to format the paper. Insert page numbers in upper right corner. Begin bibliography (Works Cited) on a separate page.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 12 Checklist — APA style Unless instructed, use a cover page. See page 410 for specific details on formatting the cover page. Include an abstract on the next page; this is a brief summary of no more than 120 words. Begin the text on the third page. Use headers for the various sections. Begin references section on a separate page.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 13 Sample research paper, APA style See pages for the sample essay. Notice that the paper begins with an abstract, a one-paragraph summary of the paper. The essay uses headers and APA in-text citations, and ends with the References section.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 14 Analysis of the sample APA essay An analysis follows, page 419. Early on she identifies the central issues of her paper by discussing a controversial book. In doing so, she establishes a sense of credibility, creates a space for her research project, and sets up a framework to organize her paper and use her sources.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 15 Overview of the research process Pages begin with five tasks: Defining a research question Finding sources Evaluating sources Making an argument Planning and drafting

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 16 Analyzing the assignment Researchers position themselves five ways: To provide an overview of the current thinking of experts To review the arguments in a controversy To pose and answer an important question or solve a problem To position your own interpretation in relation to what others have said To take a stand on a controversy

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 17 Doing preliminary research The author suggests five places to start doing research: the Web, encyclopedias, recent books, recent articles, and people (classmates, librarians, teaching assistants, and faculty members). She gives her first reactions to the assignment and then after doing some research, her reflections on what she’s learned so far. She presents guidelines to develop a research question.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 18 Other key tasks Developing a research question, pp See the list of four questions; each is followed by an explanation of its significance. Writing a research proposal, pp Defines purpose of research and research plan. Does three things: identifies the topic or problem, presents a specific issue and question, and briefly sketches the research plan for how the question will be addressed.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 19 Working bibliography A working bibliography is explained on pages 428. It lists the sources you plan to use in your research project. There are two advantages: It helps you keep track of the sources you’ve located. It makes it easier to prepare your Works Cited or References page later on.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 20 More on finding sources Lists information needed for each type of source: books, articles, electronic information. Looks at library databases, pages Shows an entry from an online catalog; it’s annotated to show what some of the fields mean. Notice that you are looking at the full citation for the source.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 21 Two ways to analyze sources See page 434 for a list of four questions you should keep in mind. See Chapter 2, “Reading Strategies of Academic Purposes,” and Chapter 3, “Persuasion and Responsibility: Analyzing Arguments” for more “tools to examine the rhetorical situation and the arguments writers make” (434).

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 22 Making an argument See page 435 for a list of four questions “to help you determine the arguments you want to make.” Amira writes a Statement of Purpose to help her follow her research path.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 23 Planning and drafting Amira makes an outline, pages Notice that it includes enough detail to be useful, but does not use roman numerals. She does indent some entries to show a hierarchy of main ideas and supporting details.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 24 Looking ahead Amira now has analyzed her assignment, gathered research, and created an outline. Now she’s ready to start writing the paper. The next chapter will look at ways to incorporate sources into essays and research projects.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.12 | 25 Companion Student Website Go to the student side of the Web site for exercises, chapter overviews, and links to writing resources for this chapter: