Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Pre-Drafting & Drafting (11) What Organizing categories would best reflect the categories of your claim? The Craft of Research by Wayne Booth, G.G. Colomb, J. M. Williams. 1995

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 You are read to start to draft when you have a plan A picture of your readers A sense of the character you want to project A question that defines some gap knowledge You main claim or point, and some of the subpoints that will support it.

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 In the process of writing Outlining your draft –topic-based –point-based

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Outlining Topic-based –series of nouns or noun phrases I. Intro.:Word Processors in the classroom II. Uses of W. processors a. Labs b. Classroom Instruction III... Point-based I. Intro.:Value of classroom wp uncertain II. Different uses have different effects a. all uses increase flexibility - for students - for teachers III...

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 cont... help in the earliest stage of thinking, but do little to advance you from topic to a question and on to a draft Its more helpful. Its has more info., and shows the relation among the claims

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Planning your organization Beginning researchers are learning how to write at the sometime they are discovering what to write and they lose their way –repeating the assignment –summarizing sources –structuring your paper around your data –structuring your paper around a narrative of your research

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Repeating the assignment Beginning researchers often map their papers onto the literal structure of their assignment. –If your assignment list four points to consider, organize your paper around them only if the assignment requires you to do so and only if you can think of no other way.

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Summarizing sources In library research –avoid building your paper out of summaries and quotations In field research –do not simply report observations quotes from interviews –your contribution must appear throughout in principles of selection you apply to your data

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Summarizing sources In laboratory research –don’t bury your results in a narrative of your lab work –your contribution must appear in a statment of your method that selects only the relevant details –don’t mix methods, results and every misstep along the way

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Planning for drafting Where to locate your main point? –In your introduction as its last sentence readers know where you are taking them readers have control of the report –In you conclusions readers see destination only after your evidence seems inevitably to have taken them there. you are going to lead all the way through the report

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Where to locate your main point? most readers prefer to see the main point in the introduction of a report apply the same principle to major sections of your paper.

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 The introduction & background formulate a working introduction –start on the question you are asking and a sense of its answer –the least useful working introduction announces only a topic –better to open with a bit of context,. state your question as a problem present its solutions (if you know) if you don’t try to characterize the kind of solution

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 The background Decide what your readers must immediately know, understand, or believe before they can understand anything else –present the problem in more detail –define terms, review prior research –set limits on your project –locate the problem in larger historical or social context –end with a concise summary

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 Rework your outline What must your readers know now before they can understand what comes later –Old to New: readers prefer to move from what they know to what they don’t –Shorter and simpler to longer and more complex:…shorter, less complex material before longer, more complex. –Uncontested to more contested: which elements the readers accept most easily, which might they resist strongly

Methodology of ResearchBy Munguanaze, 16 May 2001 In summary Have a plan to draft Locate your claim in the introduction section Draft and Draft again...