Research Paper Outline 1. RESEARCH QUESTION (issue / problem I intend to address): __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. THESIS STATEMENT (my claim): “I argue that ...” / “I propose that __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.1 SUPPORTING CLAIM 1: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Textual Evidence illustrating this point: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ This evidence supports my claim because it shows that: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.2 SUPPORTING CLAIM 2: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Textual Evidence illustrating this point: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ This evidence supports my claim because it shows that: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.1 ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS / COUTNER ARGUMENT: “An alternative viewpoint argues that…” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Textual Evidence illustrating this alternative point: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ This evidence supports the claim because it shows that: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 REBUTTAL: Yet, this interpretation does not provide a sufficient explanation / the best answer because: __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. SIGNIFICANCE: “Answering this research question is important because…” __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 3