Hi. My name is Katie, and today we'll discuss writing an effective argumentative research paper. We'll begin today's lesson by providing an overview of some key components of the research writing process. And then, we'll zoom in on these concepts and talk about some considerations for each of these stages.
Let's begin with the big picture, an overview of the research writing process. It's important to remember that research writing is a recursive process. So don't ever think that you've completed one step, and you can't go back to it. You want to return back to each stage, and build upon the work that you do during each of these different processes.
Normally you begin with an assignment and you select a topic, which leads you to a working thesis, and begin to dive into research in order to find credible sources to supply that support. I advise using an annotated bibliography to organize your notes. And then use those notes to build a detailed outline that gives you a general concept of the way your essay will look.
Then you get into the process of drafting your essay. This is where you just get the concepts down on the page. After that, you revise at the conceptual level to make sure that your thesis, claims, and support are working together to build your arguments. The process of editing is where you go back and make sure that the language choices you're using are appropriate, and that you've provided-- for example-- proper transitional sentences or signal phrases that helps a reader understand your argument better.
The final stage in this process is when you proofread your essay to make sure that it's formatted properly and that it's free of any mechanical or grammatical errors. If any of these stages seem unfamiliar to you, I'd advise that you go back in the pathway and look for the lessons that focus on them. But right now, I'll give you a general overview of some of the key concepts to consider.
Let's begin at the beginning-- brainstorming and pre-writing. Generally, you're going to be writing for a purpose, but you always want to consider any guidelines for your topic or focus when you're choosing how to begin your research paper. Remember, you begin with your topic, but your topic is not your thesis.
During this pre-writing process, you always want to keep in mind that you need a debatable topic. This means that it includes at least two perspectives. Even at this early stage in the writing process, you want to begin considering your argumentative approach.
At this stage, some writers prefer to select either the classical Rogerian or Toulmin model. But other writers know themselves well enough, and naturally merge different pieces of each model in order to build their own writing style.
Also during this pre-writing phase, it's wise to craft a detailed outline. Use this outline as a skeleton for your argument. Consider perhaps, the components of your argumentative approach, and then fill in places where you need support, and what type of support you're going to look for.
When considering researching, perhaps the best piece of advice I can supply you is give yourself a lot of time. A great time-saver for the research process is taking good notes. This means not only carefully cataloging important content information from your sources, but also recording all the necessary bibliography data for these sources.
Another advantage of recording bibliographic data is it helps you evaluate the credibility of your sources. You only want to use reliable, professional sources in your argumentative research essay because it establishes your own credibility. And shows that you're well-versed in the conversation around your topic.
Personally, I like to take notes using annotated bibliographies, and I recommend that you do the same. Your annotated bibliography should include the bibliographic information for your source, the thesis and key claims that the author makes, as well as some notes on how it relates to your argument, and how this source could be useful in your essay. Then you can use these annotated bibliographies to find out where your source information should go on your detailed outline.
Once you've created a detailed outline and done a significant amount of research on your working thesis, it's likely that you're going to form a personal opinion regarding your topic. I encourage you to use this opinion to your advantage. This can draw your audience in, and make your argument seem more dynamic.
However, you don't want to just leave your opinions to stand on their own. You always want to support your opinion with logic and credible research. This often means that you cite the opinions of others. And it's always helpful to back your argument up with factual evidence.
Although I do advise you to employ opinions in your essay, I also want to caution you that you need to be careful. Make sure that it's very clear that you're giving an opinion. And that you've carefully explained your opinion so that your reader can understand the main tenants of your argument and will be more likely to see things from your perspective. Let me show you a sample to demonstrate what I mean.
The text that I've highlighted here in orange is my opinion. This is a research proposal, and I'm arguing that my research is both significant and relevant to secondary level pedagogy. The second half of this sentence-- which I've highlighted in blue-- represents how I've used logos to begin validating this position. In addition, what I've highlighted in purple represents ethos-- my appeals to credibility-- because I've selected three different very reliable and credible sources who provide either factual information, which supports the validity of my argument-- such as the statement that the majority of information people receive comes less often from print sources and more typically from highly constructed visual images-- or claims which are in line with my own.
Even though I've already transferred some notes from my annotated bibliographies to my detailed outline, I always like to provide myself extra time during this drafting process. Because I often go back to the annotated bibliographies and consider how to effectively and skillfully incorporate this research into my draft.
I also often find during this stage in the writing process that I found that my ideas have changed a little bit as a result of building my knowledge regarding my topic and considering and reconsidering my working thesis. Don't be afraid to adjust them to be more precise. This is generally what people mean when they tell you to use your outline effectively.
On the one hand, your outline helps you avoid writer's block because you have a lot of language on the page to work with already. However, this outline is not set in stone. Use it to your advantage. But keep in mind that you're trying to make the best argument possible. So sometimes you need to cut out information which was present in your outline or you need to add information to your draft that you didn't originally have on your outline.
Sometimes people can get overwhelmed during the drafting process. It's hard to get the concepts that are floating around in your head to turn into concrete words on the page, but trust the writing process. Part of getting your ideas on the page is incorporating your credible research with your own thoughts and sentiments. So as you construct your draft, you always want to keep the balance of cited information and your own words in mind.
There are few different techniques that you can use to help maintain the focus on your voice and perspective. For example, you want to carefully select the material that you quote. Use summaries and paraphrases wherever you can because this allows you to incorporate source information without using another writer's words.
You can also adjust the balance of quoted information in your essay by supplying transitional and signal phrases, which provide context for the way that the quote works within your arguments. And puts emphasis on your own words and the significance which you attribute to the quote.
Also, a good rule of thumb is to avoid block quotes whenever possible. Block quotations can be very useful at times, but remember, they're very visually and conceptually distracting. So you only want to use them when it's absolutely necessary.
Also-- I cannot emphasize enough-- when you are incorporating research in your essay, make sure that you cite all information. Because these citations help establish your credibility for your reader, and help you avoid unintentional plagiarism.
After you've completed drafting your essay, now you move on to revising, editing, and proofreading your essay. I advise that you don't underestimate the amount of time that it will take you. Also, don't be afraid of change. Remember that outline that you used for your draft was just a plan for your essay, not a contract. It's OK to change things around to make your sentiments more precise and concise.
Always look back and make sure that you've ethically and accurately incorporated your sources. This means making sure that you've properly represented your source information, but also that you've properly incorporated it. In addition to looking at the concepts that you have on the page, look for word choice changes, redundancies, awkward sentences, and vary your language choices. Also, while it seems very obvious that you should make sure your essay is clear of mechanical and grammatical errors, don't forget to refer back to formatting guidelines for the discipline which you're writing in and any particular nuances of the assignment which you're writing for.
The final consideration that we'll discuss in this tutorial for writing an effective argumentative research paper has to do with plagiarism. Remember, plagiarism is passing off someone else's words or ideas as your own. Even if you don't mean to plagiarize, it's considered plagiarism. So it's incredibly important that you carefully consider the way that you've incorporated your source information.
A good way to do this is by taking good notes right from the beginning. Being a thoughtful researcher and writer is the only way to be sure that you've avoided plagiarism. I cannot stress enough that accuracy and ethics are your responsibility as an author. It is a good thing to lean on the work of other credible sources, but you need to give yourself enough time to develop, research, and write a complete and original essay.
In today's lesson, we discussed writing an effective argumentative research paper. We began by looking at the big picture of the writing process. Then moved onto discussing some tips for researching, incorporating opinions in your thinking, drafting your essay, incorporating research in your essay, revising, editing, and proofreading. And then we concluded with a caveat regarding why and how to avoid plagiarism in your writing.
I hope that you found this overview helpful. Thank you very much for joining me today.
