| Writing Research
Papers
Welcome to the Research Paper Information Resource Center.
In this center, you'll find information about drafting your research
paper including prewriting, researching,
writing, and using and integrating
sources in your paper.
The list below provides
a short description of each handout; you can view
a
list
without descriptions
here. This
center is updated with new handouts often, so check back frequently.
Prewriting
Consider
the Rhetorical Situation: This handout encourages you to
assess your rhetorical situation or writing situation critically
and analytically.
Generate
and Refine Ideas: This handout
reviews some techniques for and considers some examples of generating
and refining ideas, including background reading or researching, brainstorming,
cubing, free writing, using journalists' questions, listing,
mapping, outlining, talking with others, and keeping a research journal.
Define
the Purpose, Consider the Audience, and Develop the Thesis:
This handout discusses an important part of refining your topic:
considering your
purpose and
audience
and understanding how your purpose and audience relate. Once you
clearly understand your purpose and audience, you can begin to develop
a tentative thesis.
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Researching
Gather
and Evaluate Information: This handout
discusses the key parts to developing a search strategy.
Understand the Difference: Primary versus Secondary Sources:
This handout discusses the difference between primary sources
and secondary sources and gives examples of each.
Understanding Periodicals:
Scholarly versus Non-scholarly Sources This handout
explains five general types of periodicals and provides
information about determining whether the periodical is
scholarly or non-scholarly.
Find
and Evaluate Internet Sources: This handout discusses
directories, search engines, and metasearch engines. It
also provides a technique for evaluating Internet sources to
ensure that sources are valuable and trustworthy.
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Writing
Draft
Your Introduction: This handout discusses effective introductions
and provides strategies (and examples of those strategies) for beginning
your papers.
Draft
Body Paragraphs: Topic Sentences: This handout discusses what
is often considered to be the most important sentence in a paragraph:
the topic sentence.
Draft
Body Paragraphs: Transitioning: Transitioning
involves signaling to your reader that you are about to change direction
in your paper, which enables you
to shift from one point to another. This
handout discusses two kinds of transitioning: within and between paragraphs.
Draft
Your Conclusion: This handout discusses effective conclusions
and provides strategies (and examples of those strategies for
concluding your papers.
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Using and Integrating Sources in Your
Paper
Avoid
Plagiarism: This handout discusses why you should be concerned
about plagiarism and how you can avoid it.
Decide
when to Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize: This handout provides
suggestions for deciding when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize.
Learn
to Paraphrase: This handout discusses when you should paraphrase
and provides step-by-step instructions for paraphrasing.
Learn
to Summarize: This handout discusses when you should summarize
and provides step-by-step instructions for summarizing.
Practice
Paraphrase/Summarize: This handout provides some passages for you
to practice your paraphrase and/or summary skills. UHV students
may submit the practice exercises to peer
writing tutors for feedback.
Signal
Your Sources: This handout discusses various ways to signal
(or introduce) source material.
Signal
Your Commentary on Source Material: This handout discusses two
techniques for signaling your commentary of source material: parenthetical
citations and transitions.
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Revising
Global Revision: This handout provides three
strategies for looking at the "big picture" of research
papers, including checking topic sentences, transitions,
and thesis statements.
Paragraph
and Sentence Strategy: Moving From Known (Old)
Information to Unknown (New) Information: This
handout provides a strategy that writers can use to add
coherence to their paragraphs and sentences. It
discusses the need for writers to to establish the
known, or old, material first before moving on to the
unknown, or new, information.
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