Introduction

Genre

Topic

Scope

Thesis or Question

Research

Outline

Introduction

Argumentative outline

Analytical outline

First Draft

Revisions

Proofreads

Additional Resources

Writing a Research Paper

Outline

A possible outline template for an analytical paper

This is for an essay that happens to have three main answers, again listed in ascending order as in our argumentative paper template. How you order them will entirely depend on which ones you feel, given all the evidence, are the most or least convincing. If we take our research question example from before, perhaps the first answer would be from researchers who believe music has no effect on studying, the second about studies that show how detrimental it is, and the third one pointing out the positive aspects. In your conclusion, you might point out how certain conditions (e.g., absence of lyrics, tempo, volume, type of studying student is engaged in etc.) appear to be incredibly important.

Working Title (*optional here. You may want to wait until after your first draft)

Introductory Paragraph

• What do I need to say to set up my research question? Background?
• Research Question (stated within a sentence, not as a question. E.g., "In light of à.., it seems worthwhile to consider just what the effects ofà.are onà.")

Transition (you don't have to write these out now but you should know what they'd roughly be)

· Answer #3 = _________________________

• one possible answer to the question + explication/summary
• strengths and weaknesses of the position

Transition

Reason #2 = _________________________

• another possible answer + explication/summary (especially how it addresses weaknesses of the previous paragraph or completely counters it).

Transition

Reason #1 = _________________________

• best answer so far ˆ what does it say?
• why is it a better consideration of the research question? Or is it really?

Transition

Concluding Paragraph

• sum up what different angles have shown re: research question
• critically evaluate what is still needed in the field, or if you looked at three equally strong cases, analyze why one is still more convincing
• look at the implications