Writing Research Papers

Look at the domain extension.

Look for pages with background music.

Look for pages that have no author listed.

Look for pages written by amateurs.

.php and .mov.

.gov and .edu.

.com and .jpeg.

.asp and .png.

The author has authority on the subject.

The author provides evidence to substantiate opinions.

There are a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes.

What the author says can be substantiated by other sources.

It provides no links to other sources.

The author uses an angry, provocative tone.

The tone is sensationalistic.

The site is not obviously just an advertisement for a product.

They contain a lot of dead links.

It is an academic site.

The information they contain is relevant to your research.

The author uses a fair and balanced tone.

Is vague and indirect.

Presents a position that is debatable.

Makes broad generalizations.

States the obvious.

Presents more than one position on a topic.

Is angry and biased in tone.

Is merely a restatement of the topic.

Makes clear the direction the essay is going to take.

Make sure that everything you write is perfect.

Turn off your internal critic.

Start writing later in the quarter.

Start writing your introduction.

Start early enough in the quarter to make sure you are finished in time.

Develop the introduction and conclusion later.

Use deadlines (as motivators) to your own advantage.

Try to put everything in a logical order while you are writing.

Asking yourself questions about the text as you read.

Arguing against a secondary source with which you disagree.

Writing bits and pieces of your paper, then putting them all together in a logical order afterwards.

Trying to guess what your professor wants.

Generally speaking, who, what, where, why, and how are irrelevant questions when writing about literature.

Even people who write well sometimes have difficulty writing.

Worrying about the final grade will probably make it more difficult to write.

You should always choose a topic that is interesting to you.

Focus on the subject of your paper.

Avoid writing until you feel comfortable.

Give yourself small rewards along the way.

Establish your own personal ideal conditions for writing.

Organizing your thoughts.

Scheduling your writing time.

Rewarding yourself.

Getting bogged down in your research.

"as we know"

"at the same time"

"however"

"original"

"in addition"

"in spite of"

"joint"

"but"

"match"

"however"

"in addition"

"moreover"

"yet"

"so"

"of course"

"average"

True

False

When we revise we make minor changes, and when we edit we make major changes to our writing.

When we edit we make minor changes, and when we revise we make major changes to our writing.

Revising has to do with improving the text, and editing doesn't.

Editing has to do with improving the text, and revising doesn't.

True

False

True

False

True

False

True

False

True

False

True

False