Once you have decided on your topic and found secondary sources that relate to your topic, you need to organize your research paper so that you write an analysis that develops an argument. When your paper is complete, it will consist of the following parts:
an introductory paragraph that focuses on a primary source and uses that source to introduce your topic and develops your thesis statement;
a sufficient number of body paragraphs (3 sources, 3 body paragraphs makes the most sense) that support and develop your thesis by providing evidence from secondary sources;
a concluding paragraph that reminds your reader of the main points of your argument, wraps up your discussion, and makes a point about it.
In order to write a paper that meets the assignment requirements and fulfills the expectations of an academic audience, you need to follow a required Paper Plan. The graphic below captures the overall structure of your paper; the blocks, which represent the paragraphs required for this paper, form your Paper Plan.
Your Development Strategy takes the basic structure of your Paper Plan and applies specific ideas to each block shown in your Paper Plan. Use the graphic below to structure your paper and fill in that structure with a unified, coherent discussion of an assigned topic.
Introductory Paragraph
Topic sentence: Introduce the writers full name and the title of the primary source that youre using to set up your topic, and make a keyword claim (a general statement that relates to one of the assigned research topics).
Supporting evidence
Introduce & produce one quote from the primary source to support your topic sentence keyword claim. Explain the connection between the quote and the topic sentence keyword claim.
Supporting evidence
Introduce & produce a second quote from the primary source to support your topic sentence keyword claim. Explain the connection between the quote and the topic sentence keyword claim.
Summary claim: Summarize, synthesize, & problematize the topic sentence keyword claim in a way that points to research (i.e.: indicate how the topic applies not only to the primary source but also to a claim that can be supported by secondary sources).
Thesis statement: Tell your reader, in a statement of purpose, how you will solve the problem that you set up in the previous sentence. The thesis in this paper should take your from the primary source to an idea that can be supported by your secondary sources.
Body Paragraphs (as many as you need)
Topic sentence: In a topic/transition sentence, you need to introduce one of your secondary sources, makes a new topic sentence keyword claim that relates to the secondary sources, and link that new keyword claim to the statement you made at the end of the previous paragraph.
Supporting evidence
Introduce & produce one quote from the secondary source to support your topic sentence keyword claim for this body paragraph. Explain the connection between the quote and the topic sentence keyword claim.
Supporting evidence
Introduce & produce a second quote from the secondary source to support your topic sentence keyword claim for this body paragraph. Explain the connection between the quote and the topic sentence keyword claim. Summary claim: Make a point about the body paragraph topic, focusing on the second source and the evidence you produced in the body of this paragraph and the keyword claim that identifies the body paragraphs topic.
Concluding statement: Connect the point you made in the previous sentence to your thesis.
Concluding Paragraph
Topic sentence: Start your concluding paragraph with a transitional device that signals conclusion. Then, you need to restate the points (keyword claims) you made in the topic sentence and concluding statement of the introductory paragraph.
Supporting evidence
Restate the main points (keyword claims) you made in the body paragraphs. Use a signal phrase to attribute your summary claim to secondary source.
Supporting evidence
Restate the main points (keyword claims) you made in the body paragraphs. Use a signal phrase to attribute your summary claim to secondary source.
Supporting evidence
Restate the main points (keyword claims) you made in the body paragraphs. Use a signal phrase to attribute your summary claim to secondary source.
Summary claim: Using a transitional device like this research suggests that, you need to make a general point about the paper topic.
Concluding statement: Make an appeal to your reader, telling that reader what to think/do about the point you made in your summary claim. When you make that appeal, you need to use a transitional device plus a reference to your research.
Follow the Paper Plan & Development Strategy from Writing Your Research Paper to develop and organize your essay into an introduction (one introductory paragraph), body (multiple body paragraphs), and conclusion (one concluding paragraph).
This essay should be 4-5 pages, not counting the Works Cited page (one-inch margins, typed and double-spaced). You will need to use MLA documentation (see MLA Documentation for Research Papers). Be sure to cite all quotations, paraphrases, and references to outside sources in proper MLA style. Include a Works Cited page as the final page of your paper (see pages 356-398 in your grammar handbook for tips and reminders).
You must use 3 secondary sources (found through your research) along with one primary source (from the assigned topics). Secondary sources can be found using TTC’s online databases (Infotrac, Biography Resource Center, Literature Resource Center, etc.).
To avoid plagiarism, you MUST do the following in the topic sentence of each body paragraph:
Introduce the writers name
Introduce the title of the text that youre going to write about in that body paragraph
Make a keyword claim that establishes a paragraph topic
Then, in the body of each body paragraph, you MUST
Use quotes from the secondary source to support your topic sentence keyword claim
Use a signal phrase to introduce quotes and to attribute claims to secondary sources
Explicate the quotes from the secondary sources, using keywords and transitional devices to explain how the quotes support the paragraph topic (review HANDLING QUOTES & USING KEYWORDS AND TRANSITIONAL DEVICES).
**MORE IMPORTANT INFORMATION**
HANDLE YOUR SECONDARY SOURCES JUST LIKE YOU HANDLED THE TEXTS YOU WROTE ABOUT IN THE FIRST TWO PAPERS
Like the other three papers that you have written this semester, your research paper MUST be an academic paper that provides an analysis of texts and develops an argument regarding a topic. You are not writing an informative report but must instead develop an argument to support your thesis.
FOLLOW THESE BASIC GUIDELINES:
1. Do not write an informative report in which you merely summarize and paraphrase your secondary sources, putting all the evidence in your own words without attributing claims to secondary sources.
2. Do not use the pronouns “I” or “you.”
3. Do not make general knowledge claims. All claims must be supported by a secondary source that is introduced in a signal phrase and included on a works cited page.
4. Do not use contractions.
5. Do write in the present tense, UNLESS you are writing about an event that happened in the past. (For example, Jefferson owned slaves; he does not still own them. However, in the Declaration of Independence, he states, all men are created equal (402). See the difference?)
