By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Perhaps one of the most anxiety-producing tasks in courses (including online) is the research paper. One of the primary reasons learners fear and loathe the research paper is because they tend to procrastinate and then try to write the entire paper in a single sitting.
If one bit of advice could be taken to heart, it would be "draft, redraft, revise, and craft" your paper. What exactly does that little bit of advice mean?
Step One: Define Your Topic
Step Two: Narrow Your Topic
Step Three: Research with Annotated Bibliography
Annotated bibliography first
Online Articles (Databases, Online Repositories)
Web-based:
Findarticles.com — http://www.findarticles.com
Google Scholar — http://www.google.com/scholar (some may cost money)
Google Books — http://www.google.com/books (some are free)
Government based databases and repositories of articles and information
Subscription-based: Your library will probably have the following (one or more):
Wilson Proquest
Gale
EbscoHost
Questia
Reference materials
How? Which articles to include in the annotated bibliography?
Developing criteria:
Organize the articles
Definitions
History of ideas / work in the subject
Main concepts and ideas — articles that illustrate it
Outline a strategy for organizing, focusing, and assuring complete coverage
How to align the main idea with your ideas and the primary history of it
Step Four: Create a Great Outline
Avoid the old 5-paragraph rigidity
Introduction
Thesis statement
Definitions and background
Historical contexts / theoretical foundations
Advance the primary thesis — what is the position? Elaborate…
Elaborate and explain.
Advance the primary thesis.
Cases and examples…
The other side of the story
Conclusion (advance the primary thesis)
Step Five: Revise with a Clear Eye
Identify where you change topics or change directions
Eliminate superfluous elements
Note where you need to add definitions or supporting details
Expand with case studies or examples
If you follow these steps, you are likely to create a research paper that you enjoy and feel proud of, rather falling into the trap of procrastinating and then writing something that is highly derivative of something one can find on the Internet in a "term paper for sale" website.