Week 3B - Draft a Research Paper, Revising and Submitting a Final Copy

Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity 5 | Activity 6 | Activity 7

Activity 1: Introduction

Drafting a Research Paper

You are now ready to turn your outline or visual organizer into a research paper. As you write, keep in mind that this research paper must be written free of personal opinion and in third person. You also have to make sure each of your points is backed up with research.

In order to turn your outline or visual organizer into a research paper, you can take your organizational outline or visual organizer from Task 3 and turn each of the sections into paragraphs that reflect the information you outlined

You may find that it is easier to start with your introductory paragraph and work through your essay chronologically. Or you may find that working on the body paragraphs first is the best method for you -- there is no right or wrong method for this.

Choose a work pattern that makes sense to you. For example, if you want to write the conclusion before the introduction, go ahead. If, as you start writing your essay, you find that the information from your outline needs to be switched around for a better flow, or to develop more information in your research, go ahead and move this information. This is part of the drafting process, so don’t feel that you must follow the same pattern as your outline and stay flexible with the order of information.  In other words, use common sense and insight to make sure information flows logically in your draft.

REMEMBER: Your first draft for task 4 is a draft with errors.

Keep in mind that the final draft of your research paper for this task will be 10-15 pages in length, including the title page and reference list! Therefore, create a first rough draft that comes close to these page requirements.

As you write your draft, start making decisions about where you will paraphrase and where you will provide direct quotations from your research in your paper. Be sure to include in-text citations wherever you paraphrase or quote material.  And remember to use at least 10 sources. These sources are placed in a reference list of the sources you use in your research paper. The reference page should match one-to-one with the in-text citations in your research paper.

You will see an example of APA title page, document formatting, and reference list in the sample essay at 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090212013008_560.pdf