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Introduction
Genre
Topic
Scope
Thesis or Question
Introduction
Example
Defining
features
Constructing
effective statements/questions
The
"So What?" Test
Research
Outline
First
Draft
Revisions
Proofreads
Additional
Resources
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Writing a Research Paper
Thesis or Question
An example of both thesis and question in
action
The Context (Occasion):
Imagine that you've been asked to write a research paper for a Communications
course on the Personal Impact of Modern Media Technologies. You get
a choice on what kind of paper to write. You weren't given a sheet of
thesis statements or questions, but you've been to all the classes and,
well, have just lived long enough to know that radio is a modern
medium that would definitely have personal impacts. After some brainstorming
about your personal experiences and a bit of refining
and preliminary research, you've decided to
write a paper on the impact music-listening has on students' grades.
That's your refined topic. Now if you were a real researcher, you could
set up an empirical study and actually test this, but that's not the
type of research paper we're talking about here; not you personally
doing the research, but finding out what others have to say on the matter
and using it intelligently for your own purposes.
If it's for an argumentative paper
After some thought about your opinions on the issue (maybe combined
with some preliminary research), you've come up with a tentative thesis
statement like this: "Contrary to popular, parental, and librarian
opinion, 'quiet study time' does not in fact enhance but instead impairs
students' productivity. Listening to music
while studying is in fact a beneficial activity to add to a study regime
for better grades because of the way music motivates students and keeps
them alert" or something like that. The wording doesn't
really matter at this point, just the fact that you have transformed
your topic into that second provocative, declarative sentence.
If it's for an analytical paper
To transform your topic into a research question for this example,
all you have to do is stick an interrogative pronoun at the beginning
and tack a question mark at the end; in other words, MAKE IT A QUESTION!
Your research question would be something like "What
is the ultimate effect of music-listening while studying on grades?"
The paper will then go on to analyze and explore the range of answers.
If your question is refined enough, this simple tactic works quite well.
Hopefully what you've seen from this example is the ultimate difference
between a thesis statement and a research question: a thesis lands on
one side of the fence and tells the other why its side is better; a research
question hovers above the fence like an inquisitive bird, a third party
trying to decide which side is really more inviting given all the evidence.
In short, a thesis is one possible answer to a research question
on the same topic.
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