2.  Research writing is complex ◦ It requires multiple iterations ◦ Drafting leads to rethinking the problem ◦ Rethinking leads to rewriting  Much of your early writing will be tossed  So, you need to leave lots of time for revision

3.  Who are your readers? ◦ What are they likely to know? What do they expect? ◦ What opinions might they have? ◦ Why should they care about your problem?  What tone do you want to have? ◦ Objective observer ◦ Passionately committed  What question are you posing? ◦ Is there some gap or discrepancy in knowledge?

4.  What are your main points and some of the sub-points  What is the sequence of the paper ◦ Is it pre-determined? Or can you decide?

5.  When do you start?  Ask yourself the following: ◦ Is your point good enough to make? ◦ Can you state the main concepts you plan to develop in your paper in simple terms? ◦ Is it contestable? Do you need evidence to support it?

6.  Focus your outline on your main points  Show the relationship between points  Identify where you have evidence to support them When you’re done, you can use it as a skeleton to start drafting your paper.

7.  Options ◦ End of introduction (to show readers the path) ◦ Conclusion (after you’ve shown the evidence)  Depends on the relationship you want to make with reader ◦ Reader-controlled ◦ Author-controlled  Depends on the field protocol  Either way, make sure reader can get information by skimming

8.  Spend time to reflect on the best way to organize your data  Categorize and re-categorize until you find the most interesting way to appeal to your reader  Example: SLA Paper ◦ Modification type (simplification vs. elaboration) ◦ Skill type (reading vs. listening) ◦ Instructional mode (computer-assisted vs. instructor-led)

9.  Chronological order  Evidence to claims (Theories to hypotheses)  Methodologies/Approaches

10.  In what ways do you think you could organize your paper? Name 2 or 3.  Think first about your audience. ◦ What kind of background information do they need? ◦ What are their expectations? ◦ What points and sub-points do you need to provide?

11. Rules of Thumb:  Start with what is familiar first  Then, move to unfamiliar  Start with shorter, less complex  Then move to longer, more complex  Start with less contested issues (established theories)  Then, move to more contested issues

12.  Avoid building your paper out of summaries and quotations.  It should reflect your own original thinking (analysis).  Use observations to support your ideas rather than substitute for them.

13.  Review two of the sources that you have selected. In each, how has the author categorized the information? Why do you think the author choose this approach?  Decide on how you will categorize your information. Explain why. Create an outline based on your research problem. Cite sources where appropriate.