Table 31.2 describes commonly used indexes and databases.

As you read each source, take a minute to evaluate the reliability of each source you find

Your sources will include both primary sources and secondary sources. As you conduct research, you will want to take detailed, careful notes about your discoveries

The following are examples of secondary sources: Magazine articles Biographical books Literary and scientific reviews Television documentaries

Other primary sources include the following: Research Articles Literary Texts Historical documents such as diaries or letters Autobiographies or other personal accounts Podcasts

Your main research question should be substantial enough to form the guiding principle of your paper—but focused enough to guide your research.

A successful research process should go through these steps: Decide on the topic. Narrow the topic in order to narrow search parameters. Consider a question that your research will address. Generate sub-questions from your main question. Determine what kind of sources are best for your argument. Create a bibliography as you gather and reference sources.

Another part of your research plan should include the type of sources you want to gather. The possibilities include articles, scholarly journals, primary sources, textbooks, encyclopedias, and more.

You should aim for a question that will limit search results to sources that relate to your topic, but will still result in a varied pool of sources to explore.

A broad search will yield thousands of sources, which makes it difficult to form a focused, coherent argument, and it is not possible to include every topic in your research.

The research process allows you to gain expertise on a topic of your choice, and the writing process helps you not only remember what you have learned, but also understand it on a deeper level.

research paper is an expanded essay that relies on existing discourse to analyze a perspective or construct an argument.

Answer: NO. Any experienced reader will instantly see through such a scheme and will likely become irritated by the resulting “fluffy” prose. If you are having trouble meeting the minimum word count, a far better solution is to add more examples, details, quotations, or perspectives.

conciseness is key

Your introduction should state the issue at hand, establish your position regarding it, describe your paper’s organization, and identify the scope of your coverage.

read your paper aloud

Have you maintained the same tone and main idea throughout?

Ask your readers if everything is clear and easily understood, if phrases are worded correctly, if the document is logically sound, etc. If you have other specific concerns — Is the second example effective? Does my conclusion resolve the paper nicely? — ask your readers to direct their attention to those issues

As you review what you have written, you will undoubtedly see holes in your logic, sentences that confuse rather than clarify, and sentences and paragraphs out of place. Below are some helpful hints to consider as you analyze and transform your paper.

A joke means many things to many people. Readers bring all sorts of backgrounds and perspectives to the reading process and would need clarification for a word so vague. This expression may also be too informal for the selected audience.

The best way to revise your thesis statement is to ask questions about it and then examine the answers to those questions. By challenging your own ideas and forming definite reasons for those ideas, you grow closer to a more precise point of view, which you can then incorporate into your thesis statement.

My paper will explain

A strong thesis statement must be precise enough to allow for a coherent argument and to remain focused on the topic.

A thesis statement is an argumentative central claim in a paper; the entire paper is focused on demonstrating that claim as a valid perspective. Your thesis statement should be in your introduction because you must make sure that the audience is aware of your paper’s intent so that there is clarity from the outset.

Chronological order → best for describing events Spatial order → best for describing places Order of importance →  best for describing objects and people

Three common ways to structure a paper are chronological order, spatial order, and order of importance. Choose the order that will most effectively fit your purpose and support your main point.

The more you sort through the pieces of information you found, the more you will begin to see the connections between them.

T = “What’s all this about?” E = “How do you know?” A = “Why should I care?” R = “What does this have to do with anything?”

You say what is important and why

If your reader were only to read the topic sentences in your essay, he/or she should have a general idea of what you’re talking about

Table 11.1 Common Signal-Phrase Verbs

An “if-then” structure is a common transition technique in concluding sentences

In expository writing, each paragraph should articulate a single main idea that relates directly to the thesis statement. This construction creates a feeling of unity, making the paper feel cohesive and purposeful

By dedicating each paragraph to only one part of your argument, you will give the reader time to fully evaluate and understand each claim before going on to the next one.

When you created your outline, you wrote your thesis statement and then all the claims you need to support it. Then you organized your research, finding the evidence to support each claim. You’ll be grateful to have done that sorting now that you’re ready to write your paragraphs. Each of these claims will become a topic sentence, and that sentence, along with the evidence supporting it, will become a paragraph in the body of the paper.

Judgments. Judgments are conclusions drawn from the given facts. Judgments are more credible than opinions because they are founded upon careful reasoning and examination of a topic

Remember that your thesis, while specific, should not be overly detailed.

Primary support can be described as the major points you choose to expand on as you prove your thesis.

deally the end of your first paragraph will clarify the thesis statement you will support in the rest of your paper

Find a book that played an important role in your life when you were a child or an adolescent. Why was it important? What was it like to read this book? Did you read it on your own or did someone read it to you? If someone read it to you, who was it, and what was the experience like? Is there a connection between this book and learning to read on your own? Re-read the book. (If it is long, like Little Women, for example, it is all right to skim it, although you may find yourself re-reading certain parts.)

we will define literacy as the ability to read and write. When you combine that concept with the rhetorical mode of narration, a literacy narrative is born. In a literacy narrative, a writer may discuss learning to read and write, or the writer could recall a time in which he/she became more proficient or skilled in reading and writing, or a writer could even write about a person who taught him/her to read or be inspired by stories.

Plot – The events as they unfold in sequence Characters -The people who inhabit the story and move it forward. Typically, there are minor characters and main characters. The minor characters generally play supporting roles to the main character, or the protagonist. Characters are fleshed out not only through how the author describes them, but also through their actions, dialogue, and thoughts. Conflict -The primary problem or obstacle that unfolds in the plot that the protagonist must solve or overcome by the end of the narrative. The way in which the protagonist resolves the conflict of the plot results in the theme of the narrative Theme – The ultimate message the narrative is trying to express; it can be either explicit or implicit. The theme of a story is also what makes it significant. If the story has lasting meaning to you, it will be meaningful to your readers.

Not all personal narratives are written in chronological order. Some are told backwards, or some are arranged thematically. On occasion, a narrative can be structured by starting in the present and then “flashing back” to a prior, related event

Your task, as the writer, is to explain how an event or experience is vexing, enlightening, or engrossing, something an outside reader could potentially relate to. Here’s an example, I used to spend summers at my grandmother’s house in New Jersey–snore. Who cares, right?

The potential results are unlimited. Creative writing can also be used as an outlet for people to get their thoughts and feelings out and onto paper. Many people enjoy creative writing but prefer not to share it

Additionally, the student literary journal at CNM, Leonardo, publishes creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. If you write a memoir for class that you are proud of, consider submitting your memoir essay to Leonardo, which accepts submissions in the fall and spring semesters. To learn more, email leonardo@cnm.edu

Using idea mapping, you might discover interesting connections between topics that you had not thought of before.

If you get stuck, just copy the same word or phrase over and over until you come up with a new thought.

After you choose a topic, critical reading is essential to the development of a topic. While reading almost any document, evaluate the author’s point of view by thinking about his/her main idea and support.

These are the five most common steps in the writing process: Prewriting Outlining the structure of ideas Writing a rough draft Revising Editing

The purpose of an academic synthesis is to blend individual documents into a new document. An academic synthesis paragraph considers the main points from one or more pieces of writing and links the main points together to create a new point, one not replicated in either document.

Tutoring Centers

Set due dates for the stage of your writing process, for example when you would like to pick a topic and complete your rough draft.

Ask yourself why your professor assigned this task. How does it relate to what you are studying in class? Pay attention to key words, such as compare, contrast, analyze, etc. Who is your audience?

asks a friend or colleague to read what she has written

We are all different. Our brains respond differently to the task of writing. Some people like to outline, some people like to create idea maps, and some people like to write all their ideas down and organize later.

For instance, you do not need to write, “Sue is like those people who always put off doing what they are supposed to do until much later than they should have done it in the first place,” when you can simply say, “Sue procrastinates.”

Always imagine who your hypothetical audience is (what type of publication would the content of your essay fit into?) and that will help you determine the specifics of your writing style.

impersonal prose

Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations, but no matter the type, the information must be appropriate and interesting for the audience and purpose.

If you want to brag about a good grade, you may write the post to please family members. If you want to describe a funny moment, you may write with your friends’ senses of humor in mind. Even at work, you send e-mails with an awareness of an unintended receiver who could intercept the message.

Before you begin formal research using databases, you must first try to thoroughly develop your interests and then construct viable research terms and questions, which requires some critical thinking skills. The first step in the writing process, a process that begins with a problem and normally ends with a solution, is brainstorming.

Often expository writing assignments will incorporate outside research, too. Some classes will also require persuasive writing assignments in which you state and support your position on an issue. College instructors will hold you to a higher standard when it comes to supporting your ideas with reasons and evidence.

Annotate (write notes in the margins) – in the form of questions, comments, personal connections, and answers to the questions you read during pre-reading. Writing down your thoughts while you are reading serves as a visual aid for studying and makes it easier for you to remember what you’ve read. This is a brain-friendly practice because the human brain can only hold information for about 20 seconds in its working memory before the next idea comes and boots the previous thought off its workbench, so be sure to write down anything you want to remember before it evaporates into thin air!

How deeply do I need to understand the reading?

the first step in handling college reading successfully is planning. This involves pre-reading, managing your time, and setting a clear purpose for your reading

And it is difficult, if not impossible, to write effectively about a text that you do not understand. Even when you do understand the reading, it can be hard to write about it if you do not feel personally engaged with the ideas discussed.

Once you’ve selected a major, one way to develop a sense of the types of questions posed in your selected discipline is to read articles published in that field.

Each of these academic fields had their own goals, their own genres, their own writing conventions, their own formats for citing sources, and their own expectations for writing style. I thought each of the teachers I encountered in my undergraduate career just had their own personal preferences that all felt pretty random to me.

Subject: English 1110 Section 102: Absence Dear/Hello Professor [Last name], l was unable to attend class today, so I wanted to ask if there are any handouts or additional assignments I should complete before we meet on Thursday? I did review the syllabus and course outline, and I will complete the quiz and reading homework listed there. Many thanks, [First name] [Last name]

where students can present their own writing and offer constructive comments to their classmates.

Even the best students, however, need to make big adjustments to learn the conventions of academic writing. College-level writing obeys different rules, and learning them will help you hone your writing skills. Think of it as ascending another step up the writing ladder.

Knowing your rhetorical situation, or the circumstances under which you communicate, and knowing which tone, style, and genre will most effectively persuade your audience, will help you regardless of whether you are enrolling in history, biology, theater, or music next semester–because when you get to college, you write in every discipline.