This can be objective summaries of existing research, argumentative/opinion where counterpoints need to be identified and addressed in support of the author's view, autoethnographic (author's experience within their culture as it pertains to field of inquiry), or experimental/exploratory (like an experiment that collects data and analyzes it). Be sure to use the correct rhetorical pattern for the assignment.
Writing sophistication level, use of jargon, latin/greek
Gotta be careful about this. If you have to use latin terms for something because it's medicine formal writing, maybe okay. But even experts can appreciate plain-spoken writing, especially about complicated topics. If there's a way to express something more simply, so that it can be understood by both experts and laypeople without sacrificing concision, that's probably a good idea.
Audience identification
Teachers get paid to read your stuff. For everyone else, you gotta know who is going to read what you write and what they need out of it. No one is going to read something that doesn't have something in it for them.
The Opening
Sell them on the article with the first sentence. Not necessarily your thesis, but start with something that indicates to the user it's going to be relevant to them so that they'll make it far enough to read your thesis. "Openings need tension - paradoxes, unanswered questions, and unresolved action. Good openings propose problems, pose questions, drop you into an unfinished story, or point at fundamental tensions within a topic." https://maggieappleton.com/openings Identify a change that has occurred to the status quo or a problem that exists, explain its consequences to an interested audience, and then identify/discuss/spitball solutions. If the problem isn't compelling enough, ask "so what?" a few times.
Fractal pattern (Rua Mae Williams)
- Premise - the core of what you want to say
- Context - historical background, prior work, examples
- Substantiate - Explain how the context reinforces the premise
- Acknowledge - Note complicating contexts, limitations, counterarguments, contested facts, controversies, or other sources of conflict and uncertainty
- Reaffirm - Justify and restate the premise
- Point the Way - explain what you are going to do or say next
You can apply this at the paragraph level, section level, paper level. That's why it's fractal.
General research paper outline
- Introduction
- Topic overview
- Problem identification
- Thesis
- Literature review
- Show familiarity with the existing conversation
- Identify areas of disagreement or gaps
- Identify communities that this controversy matters to
- Use the literature review to frame and enrich the problem
- Research methodology
- Sample selection
- Experiment details
- Data collection process
- Summary of data
- Data analysis
- Qualitative
- Quantitative
- Statistics, graphs
- Results
- What does the analysis mean (synthesize data into information)
- How does it relate to the identified problem (connect to introduction)
- How does it fit within the existing discussion (connect to Literature reviews)
- Conclusion
- Tell 'em what you've told 'em, reconnect with thesis statement
- Identify possible implications to the field
- Identify limitations and possible counter arguments
- Describe areas for future research
- Conflict of interest statement
- Reference page
Bibliography
- A Neurodivergent Writing Guide by Rua Williams.
- Writing for publication in a field
Pages that link here:
- ↤ Learning