1. Holdstein & Aquiline, Chapter 8 Writing, organizing, outlining
Who Says?
Holdstein & Aquiline, Chapter 8
Writing, organizing, outlining

2. Crafting your argument
Note that "argument" here is a term for a position or claim, not a dispute.
Main parts:
Claim = answer to your RQ; often answers the "So what?" question; avoid bias; make it debatable
Reasons = claim is supported because … this shows your line of thought; is it logical?
Evidence = your research; data is important; credible; relevant
This paper holds that (claim) because of (reasons) based on (evidence).

3. Organizing Collect all your notes, printouts.
Look for gaps in the materials

4. Outlining
This is usually a form of pre-writing for your draft, although some start the draft before the outline.
The outline should include:
Why you chose this topic
Your research questions and thesis statement [ the “answer” to the main question]
The evidence that will help make your argument (support your thesis)
Brief summary of ideas that come from each source with short citations (e.g. discuss Smith results )
What have you learned, concluded [and what would you need to know next?]
Format is up to you [see handout, assignment]; formal (I then A, B etc.) or informal often with questions How serious is X?

5. Bibliography
[Technically, a bibliography is an exhaustive list on your topic; you are collecting a list of References or Works Cited] Annotations that you have been doing will help you organize your outline. Usually include summary, relevance [and author/source ethos] No need to include the annotations with your final paper, just the Works Cited list in alphabetical order.

6. Title
This matters. They often have two parts with a colon, as in the Snapchat paper Even a “working title” can help you focus your paper

7. Planning and drafting
You might both do an outline and write some of the paper [that’s why you were asked for the intro and conclusion with the outline]
There’s a good list of what you need to begin a full draft on pp It reflects the process approach we have used during the semester. Note that they suggest
Thesis is focused
You have supporting arguments backed by evidence
You might not have a clear introduction yet
You have to start at some point
Don’t worry about spelling etc. on the first draft

8. The written structure Intro/body/conclusion
Consider subheadings for these, and within the body
Intro might be last thing you write
Structures can be:
Chronological
Narrative
Inductive from specifics to general conclusion
[Deductive] General statement, then evidence [most research papers are like this]
Compare and contrast
Cause and effect
Definition [note these last two are not argument papers]
Be sure to make good use of transitions