Writing Your Research Paper: Planning and Rough Draft

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Writing the Research Paper

The information below is a review of what you learned in an earlier unit.

1. The Plan

Once you find all of the sources you want to use in your essay, you can start working on the writing process. The first step is to create a plan. If you create a detailed plan, it will be much easier to actually write the paper.
The main thing you want to remember when creating a plan is to be as specific and detailed as possible. Start off by creating your thesis statement. What is the main idea of your entire essay? Then, you need to consider the main ideas of your body paragraphs. Finish with the conclusion. In the assignment to follow, I will not ask to see your outline, only the rough draft.

Help Getting Started with a Plan:
Purdue's site - How to Outline

2. The Rough Draft

Now that your thoughts are organized in an outline, you can take that outline and use it to write the first draft of your research paper. Even though this is just a rough draft, you should still include the major parts of an essay: introduction, body, and conclusion.

However, the majority of your body paragraphs will consist of paraphrased information you have researched. It is appropriate to include your own ideas as well though. You can share your opinions about the research in your paper, but avoid using qualifiers like "I think," or "In my opinion." We will know it's your opinion because you are the writer! Just remember to write in third person only. It is not appropriate to use first person on this kind of research assignment. You can state your opinions as facts to eliminate first person. For example, if I have researched fashion in the 1970s, I might write: Fashion styles in the 1970s were too revealing because of the short skirts and low cut tops. This statement is my opinion but is still written in third person.

Your rough draft should be 3-5 pages in length, and you want to ensure that you have cited everything properly before submitting it.

Need some more review?

Check out the Essay Help folder in our Resources! You can also check out the following video:

How to Write an Essay

It's cheesy, but has some good information with it.

Works Cited
Purdue Online Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/ 18 Sept 2012
SAS Curriculum Pathways www.sascurriculumpathways.org 18 Sept 2012
Image source: http://mstrmrphy.files.wordpress.com...ough-draft.gif