Developing a Research Paper
Selecting the Topic
Research in Authoritative Summaries
Narrow the Topic
Preliminary Thesis Statement
Developing a Research Paper
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Select the Topic
Research in Authoritative Summaries
Narrowing the Topic
Building the Working Bibliography
Taking Notes
Construction of the Rough Draft
Rewriting and Polishing Rough Draft
Preparing the Final Copy
Step One: Selecting the Topic
• Topics are usually broad in scope
• Select a topic that will keep your interest
• If you are not familiar with list of topics
then select two or three to do preliminary
research on.
Step Two: Preliminary Research
in Authoritative Summaries
• Summaries are found in the Reference
Section of a Library.
• Summaries give you the five W’s: Who,
What, Where, When, and Why.
• Once you have read the summaries you
may come up with a preliminary thesis
statement.
Research in Authoritative
Summaries (Cont’d).
• Summaries are found in:
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General Encyclopedias
Specialty Encyclopedias
Dictionaries
Handbooks
Textbooks
• As you work in the Reference Section of
Library you will find many useful tools
General Encyclopedia
Dictionary: Lexicons
Dictionary: Vocabularies
Bible Dictionary
Theological Dictionary
Atlas
Biblical Histories
Bible Handbook
Concordance
Commentary
• Presents an in depth study on a particular
passage of scripture.
• Discusses:
– Meaning of terms
– Historical background of passage
– Theological insights
– Exegesis
Selecting the Best Bible Commentaries
The preacher’s most essential tools are books about the Bible
written by godly scholars who have explored beneath
the surface to uncover the riches contained in the Scriptures.
Here’s a survey to help you locate these books.
By LARRY HART
Most pastors worth their salt are eager to obtain the best practical resources to help them carry out their myriad as shepherds in Gods flock. I can remember
pumping the seminary professor I most respected and trusted for suggestions on the best Bible commentaries, and my own students do the same me from
time to time.
If ever there was a time when the body of Christ needed pastor-teachers who are serious students of Scripture, it is now! The present renewal needs leaders
who have mastered sound principles of biblical interpretation, with skills in biblical Hebrew and Greek. Such leaders can enable and help the people they
serve to read the Bible with understanding.
In Charismatic circles it is too often the case that scriptural texts are twisted and tortured in the name of “spiritual revelation.” Believers too often simply
accept mindlessly and passively the pronouncements of their teachers and pastors, while those very teachers and pastors have spent very little time in
.substantive study of Scripture. How often has a preacher claimed for a passage a supposedly Holy Spirit-revealed meaning which clearly violates all the
principles of sound Biblical interpretation? How many times do people approach the Bible as if it were a Rorschach (ink blot) test and project whatever
meaning that fits their fancy onto the text?
Perhaps one of the reasons it is so urgent that Charismatics cooperate with the Lord as He merges them with the Evangelicals is this very problem of
“playing fast and loose” with the Bible. Evangelicals care passionately about “rightly dividing the Word.” Recently the International Council on Biblical
Inerrancy published a a masterful treatment of the subject of more than 900 pages: Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible.
Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary have provided a very helpful resource in this area, a volume entitled How to Read
the Bible for All It’s Worth (Zondervan, 1981). The book contains a very helpful survey of the best Bible commentaries.
A similar service is rendered by Mark LauBranson in his Reader’s Guide to the Best Evangelical Books (Harper & Row, 1982). Actually, not all the books
surveyed could be classified as “evangelical” or “conservative,” but Branson’s overview of the best in Christian books is nevertheless informative and
downright fun! Have you ever wondered what books are Jack Hayford’s favorites—both personally and professionally? How about those of Pat Robertson
Lloyd Ogilvie, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Peter Wagner, Pat Boone, Richard Foster, John MacArthur, Carl F. H. Henry, or Phillip Yancey? They are all
listed in this volume along with those of a number of other Christian leaders.
Branson also refers the reader to two comprehensive surveys of the best Bible commentaries which] would also recommend:John Goldingay’s and Robert
Hubbard’s Old Testament Commentary Survey (Revised Theological Students Fellowship/lnterVarsity Press, 198!) and Anthony Thistelton’s and Don
Carson’s New Testament Cominen way Survey (Revised Theological Students Fellowship/InterVarsity Press, 1977).
We use commentaries to help us get at the precise meaning of a biblical passage. What Paul meant to say to the Corinthians, for example, controls what the
letters mean to us today, what God is saying to us through them. The first prerequisite to understanding the Bible, though, is a personal relationship with its
Author.
As J. I. Packer points out in his excellent volume, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Revell, 1984, p. 239), the Holy Spirit provided us with the Bible through His
role in the processes of revelation, inspiration, canonization, preservation, and translation. He also enables us to appropriate fully the Bible’s message through
His work in authentication, illumination, and interpretation. A coldly rational analysis of the text without crying out for the Holy Spirit’s help is futile. It is
impossible to “substitute’’ the Scriptures for the Spirit or vice versa. They are inseparable. The Bible is a supernatural book—authoritative, God-breathed,
infallible, inerrant. The starting-point for fully understanding it is being empowered by the One who wrote it. Nevertheless, this truth does not exonerate us
from the task of serious study of the Bible with all the available helps.
To begin with it must be said that the absolutely best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. This fact calls for a wide reading of the Scriptures—daily,
weekly, monthly, yearly. In addition, we can receive tremendous help simply by using cross-references. The New American Standard, New International,
and New King James versions, for example, have excellent cross-reference editions available.
Step THREE: Narrow the topic
• You had a fairly well defined topic, till . . .
you read the authoritative summaries; now
the topic is much broader than you thought.
• Now you know the paper could be two to
three times the size of that specified by the
professor.
• It’s time to redefine or narrow the topic.
For Example, Sanctification
• Means “to be set apart, to be holy.”
• “For I am Jehovah your God, and you have
sanctified yourselves, and you have
become holy for I am holy” [emphasis
added] (Lev 11:44).
• “because it has been written, ‘Be holy,
because I am holy’” [emphasis added] (1 Pet
1:16).
Sanctification: Theological Use
• Base meaning: “Perfection”
• Your theological background determines
how you view “Sanctification” or
“Perfection”
• Wesleyan/Holiness:
– Perfect Love, Sinlessness, Entire
Sanctification
– No longer need to sin.
Theological Use (cont.)
• Reformed Perspective
– Progressive sanctification (process)
– From moment saved, you are being “made
holy”
– Sanctification is not completed in this life; as
believers we are to strive to live as holy as we
can
Sanctification: Biblical Use
• Positional – One is sanctified because of the relationship
one has in Christ under the blood of the New Covenant
(also known as Justification).
• Experiential – One is sanctified when the Holy Spirit
regenerates and takes up residence in one’s life.
• Ultimate – One is sanctified completely when one sees
the Lord Jesus Christ “face to face”—Either one is
sanctified or not.
Narrowing the Topic
• Makes the topic more manageable
• Makes the research process much easier
Tentative Thesis Statement
• The Thesis Statement is the single controlling
idea of the paper.
• Boil all thoughts on the topic down to one
proposition/statement or a question that will be
answered by the research
• Don’t spend much time on this now—go with
your initial “gut” feeling