UNIT 19 STRATEGIES FOR WRITING THE RESEARCH PAPER: DRAFTING, REVISING, EDITING, PUBLISHING DRAFTING
STRATEGIES FOR WRITING THE RESEARCH PAPER: DRAFTING,
REVISING, EDITING, PUBLISHING
DRAFTING
Написание первого варианта работы
Task 1 Learn the guidelines and study the model of writing a thesis statement.
Writing the Thesis Statement
Написание тезисов
Once you have synthesized, or pulled together, your research to form an outline, you
should use that outline as the basis of your first draft. As you draft, you want to flesh out
your outline, adding an introduction and conclusion and working the results of your
research into the flow of your paper.
A clear, well-worded thesis statement expresses your main idea and serves as a
guideline to help you keep on track as you write your first draft. Therefore, before you start
to write, evaluate your working thesis to ensure that it covers all the topics in your outline.
The following guidelines will help you to revise your working thesis statement.
Writing the Thesis Statement
1 A thesis statement should make the main point of your research paper clear to a
reader.
2 A thesis statement should be broad enough to cover all the main topics listed in your
outline.
3 A thesis statement should be narrow enough to cover only the topics listed in your
outline.
4 A thesis statement should fit smoothly into your introduction.
Model: Writing the Thesis Statement
Here are the examples of writing the working and the revised thesis statement.
Topic
Suppose you are doing a research on the subject of animal camouflage and have come
up with the following main topics:
I Creatures with spots resembling eyes that appear threatening to would-be predators
II Creatures with coloration that matches the environment
III Creatures with coloration that changes with the seasons.
Working Thesis Statement
Many creatures find some protection from predators through coloration that blends
into the environment.
Comment
The preceding thesis is too narrow because it fails to include the category of creatures
with eyespots, whose camouflage does not blend into the environment but instead makes
the creature appear threatening. A revision can broaden the thesis.
Revised Thesis Statement
Many creatures adopt a disguise that helps protect them from predators.
Task 2 Write the thesis statement for your research paper.
Task 3 Learn the structure of the research paper and analyze the student model.
Notice how each element fits into the whole structure and how research details are worked
in and cited.
Structuring the Research Paper
Структурирование исследовательской работы
Model: Structuring the Research Paper in the Process of Drafting
TITLE
New help for people with disabilities
INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND INFORMAION
Computers have proved their usefulness in business, learning, and play. For much of
the population, at work and at home, they have made ordinary tasks easier, faster, and often
more fun. Computers, however, can do more than make already possible procedures more
efficient.
THESIS STATEMENT
For many people with disabilities, computers can make the impossible possible – by
providing language for people who cannot speak, vision for those who cannot see, and
movement for people with disabilities who cannot move.
BODY: MAIN TOPIC I FROM OUTLINE
A computer program to help children with language disabilities communicate has
been developed by Laura Meyers, a specialist in children’s language development. As a
child types on the keyboard, each letter, word, and sentence is displayed on the screen and
“pronounced” by a voice synthesizer – a device that imitates the sound of a human voice.
BORROWED WORDS IN QUOTATION MARKS
“The children see the thought printed. They hear it repeated, and it becomes
psychologically real to them because they did it themselves” (Adelson 166).
BODY: MAIN TOPIC II FROM OUTLINE
Computers are also opening new doors for the blind. “Seeing Eye” computers are
being developed that can alert people who are sightless to objects in their path. A camera
worn on the shoulder takes in images of objects ahead. A computer then processes these
images and, with a speech generator, “talks”.
BORROWED FACT CITED WITH NOTE
Devices have also been developed to help people who are blind read. One reading
machine converts printed characters into patterns of vibrating rods that can be “read” with
the fingerprints. Another more sophisticated machine converts a printed text into
synthesized speech and also into Braille/
BODY: MAIN TOPIC III FROM OUTLINE
Computers have come to the aid of people who are movement-impaired as well. John
Trimble at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Illinois is working on a chair with
movable legs controlled by a microprocessor. Mechanical devices work hand in hand with
computers, even on the simplest level.
CONCLUSION: RESTATES THESIS
Although the costs of developing technological aids are enormous, the rewards are
enormous too. Moreover, money that went into long-term care, and hospitalization of
people with disabilities, as well as lost wages and skills, can now be devoted to research
into computer technology for people with disabilities.
WORKS CITED
1 Adelson, Suzanne. “Laura Mayers Creates Software that Talks Friendly to Help
Disabled KIDS Find their VOICES.” People Weekly 4 Dec. 1989: 65-66.
2 Cattoche, Robert J. Computers for the Disabled. New York: Watts, 1986.
Task 4 Write the structure of your research paper. Incorporate words, ideas and
facts from your sources. Each time you use information from a source, write the title,
author, and page number in parentheses after the detail.
Task 5 Learn the instruction how to write citing source
Using and Citing Sources
Использование и цитирование источников
The ideas and the words of authors are protected by copyrights. Using borrowed
words, ideas, and facts is called plagiarism. Therefore, in research papers, one has to
provide parenthetical notes, footnotes, or endnotes. In addition, a list of works cited, similar
to bibliography, must appear at the end of your pap Parenthetical citations appear within parentheses directly following the borrowed
material in the paper itself. Footnotes appear at the bottom of page. Endnotes appear on a
separate sheet at the end of the paper, after the conclusion but before the works with cited
page or bibliography.
Citing Sources
1 Cite the source of a direct quotation. Use direct quotations when the original
wording makes the point more clearly.
2 Cite the sources of ideas you gained from your research, even when you express the
ideas in your own words.
3 Cite the sources of figures and statistics that you use.
4 Do not cite sources that are common knowledge.
Task 6 Give the examples of citing sources in your research paper.