WRITING A
RESEARCH
PAPER
Ms. Cranfill - English
WHAT YOU’VE ALREADY DONE…
 During the research paper writing process you have already completed
the following steps:
 Choose a specific topic to research
 Gain knowledge of your research topic through credible
online resources
 Gain knowledge of your research topic through surveying
your audience about what they know or don’t know about
your topic
 Write an argumentative thesis statement that will prove why
your topic is necessary to explore
 Take notes from your credible sources using the Research
Dialectical Notebook in order to align your research with your
thesis statement
 Write an MLA Outline (using your Research Dialectical
NOTE:
yourtrack
MLAas
Outline
and Research
Notebook) that will
keepKeep
you on
your begin
writing
Dialectical Notebook open/at hand while writing. Use
this as a resource to remind you what comes next in
your paper and use your Research Dialectical Journal to
incorporate your research.
YOU ROCK…BUT NOW WHAT?
It’s time to start writing! You’ve done all of the process work
to scaffold your steps to actually writing your research
paper. So let’s get started!
Steps for Writing Your Research Paper:
Open “Pages” or “Microsoft Word” and set up your MLA Format.
Write the introduction for your research paper.
Use the T.I.Q.A. method to write the body paragraphs of your research paper.
Write the conclusion for your research paper.
Not sure of how to do these things? Keep reading!
STEP 1: MLA FORMATTING
You will use MLA formatting for this research paper. I have used
a MLA header in every document on the Legacy Project wiki
page to help you see what your paper should look like.
However, follow the link below to OWL Purdue’s Website and
refresh your memory of what MLA headers and page numbers
look like:
MLA Formatting Help
STEP 2: WRITE AN INTRODUCTION
The introduction of your research paper sets the tone and focus for your
writing. You don’t want to give away all of your secrets and super-cool
information up front, but you also don’t want to be so vague that your
readers/audience is clueless to your topic.
Include the following:
• A sentence that talks introduces/defines your topic.
• A sentence or two about common misconceptions or accepted truths about
your topic.
• A sentence or two that explains why it is necessary to explore this topic
further.
• Your thesis statement.
*Do not use first or second person in your
research paper.
STEP 3: BODY PARAGRAPHS
Your body paragraphs should always start with a topic sentence: a sentence
that alerts the reader to what this paragraph will cover. After you’ve
established what you will talk about and what you want to prove, you need
to start pulling in the research that you found. You will provide an example
(quote, statistic, paraphrase of research, etc.) and then analyze what that
means in relation to your thesis statement. Do not simply restate what the
author or organization had to say about your topic, use your ideas and
elaborate.
Follow TIQA:
Topic sentence
Introduce Quote/Example: put the example into context.
Quote: provide your quote
Analyze: explain to the reader the importance of the quote and how it
supports your topic sentence.
MLA IN-TEXT CITATIONS
You will use MLA in-text citations for this research paper. Use the
following examples to learn how to quote directly or through
paraphrasing
AND
Follow the link to the UNCG Writing Center’s website to a handout
that explains how to utilize MLA in-text citations in your paper:
UNCG Writing Center In-Text Citations
When to use in-text citations:
When following the T.I.Q.A. method, any time you include an exact
quote/fact/statistic, an opinion, or an analysis/interpretation of
someone else’s work.
MLA IN-TEXT CITATION
Fast Facts of how to use In-Text Citations:
Introduce the source in the beginning of the sentence and
follow the sentence with a page number in parentheses.
OR
If you don’t introduce the source, you must include the source
name in parentheses.
Direct Quote Example:
According to the research Katherine Cranfill presented in her article, “How to
Write a Research Paper,” writing a thesis statement is a “crucial step to
writing” (19).
Paraphrase Example:
According to research on writing research papers, an essential first step is
generating a thesis statement (Cranfill 19).
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STEP 4: WRITE A CONCLUSION
The conclusion in your paper should obviously wrap up everything you
have to say on your research topic. However, simply repeating
yourself is not an effective way to close out a paper. While writing the
conclusion to your research paper, ask yourself “so what?” Why is it
important that you researched this topic? What impact could a
changed opinion have if people understand what you wrote about?
Include the following:
• A sentence that restates/defines your topic.
• A sentence or two about why this topic matters to your audience or the
community in general.
• A sentence or two that explains why it is necessary to reconsider opinions
on this topic.
WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER
Author: Katherine Cranfill
September 23, 2013
A Flipped Classroom Lesson
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