WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT

LESSON 1

The Process of Writing a Research Paper

1. What is a research paper? Give the definition of it.

A RESEARCH PAPER –is a project in which you will start with an idea or hypothesis,collect data or information on the subject, bring the information together in a logical fashion, and, reflecting on what you have learned in the process, reexamine the original idea.

1.1. How many parts does a research paper have? (The Introduction, The Main Body, The Conclusion, supplements)

2. What steps should be followed to go through all the preparation of a research paper or at the stage of PREWRITING?

1) Form potential research questions

2) Limit and focus your topic

3) Gather data

4) Organize / summarize your findings

5) Analyze data

6) Write the first draft

FORMING THE RESEARCH QUESTION

Read the available material on your problem and make at least ten or fifteen questions you would like to dwell upon in your paper.

LIMITING AND FOCUSING YOUR QUESTION OR TOPIC

Take a look at the questions and see if they can be divided into logical groups. Then decide which group you would most like to investigate and then discard (откажитесь, отбросьте) all the other questions. It means that you have just narrowed your topic. Now bring it into even sharper focus by thinking of more questions about the specific single aspect of your research paper that you are going to investigate.

GATHERING DATA

Try to find as many findings on your topic as possible (or as you can find). Be sure you stay within the limits of the topic you see for yourself. Keep in mind that the material you will find will be the raw data of your research.

ORGANIZING AND SUMMARIZING YOUR FINDINGS

Summarize your findings. Make sure you do not leave any important point out and that all points are relevant to your topic. Correlate your theoretical material with your findings.

ANALYZING YOUR DATA

Review what you have found by analyzing and summarizing your data according to the conception you have chosen. Maybe you will draw interesting conclusions from your samples or make guesses about your subject matter that you haven’t suspected before. Perhaps there are further questions you might like to pursue.

What steps should be followed in writing the first draft of the research paper?

WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT

STEP 1: SELECTING A TOPIC THAT INTERESTS YOU

STEP 2: LIMITING AND FOCUSING THE TOPIC

A research/paper should develop a specific topic. It mustn’t be too broad because if it is, you will need to decide which aspect of the subject you are most interested in and you could never cover it all in any single research paper. The topic then needs to be limited.