Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Professor Linda M.
Elfers-Mabli
Petrocelli College of
Continuing Studies
Fairleigh Dicksinson
University
Student Manual
By Professor Linda M. Elfers-Mabli
one of the authors and artists lived. For proach on page 3 of this brochure in the
Another approach to this assignment is
instance, the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti “Narrowing Down Your Topic” section.
to write about one of the artists listed on
represents the literary (and cultural)
the cover page of this brochure.
movement known as the “Beat Genera- I hope you’re getting the idea.
tion,” a 1950s cultural, artistic, and liter-
A final approach is to research the his-
ary phenomenon. I discuss this ap-
torical period or literary period in which
Phase One
Step Two: Complete Go to the library (or the Internet) and Make sure you write down the publishing
Background Reading find one or two general sources on your information for the books (and websites)
subject. You could also refer to an ency- you selected as background reading.
clopedia to get an overview of your topic. Follow MLA documentation style. (See
Phase Four of this brochure.)
Browse through the general material you
found either in the library or online and You’ll need to submit the publish-
do some background reading on your ing information for these sources
subject. In other words, become familiar when you submit your preliminary
with your subject. This background thesis statement to me via email
reading could also lead you to a specific later this semester. You’ll also need
focus on your subject; such as, in the case this information for the bibliography
of focusing in on a particular period in (Works Cited) at the end of your com-
an author’s life. pleted paper.
This is a crucial part of Phase One of I further narrowed down the topic
the research paper process. For instance, to a specific Beat Generation
I mentioned the period of the 1950s poet - Lawrence Ferlinghetti - but
before in relation to Lawrence Ferling- there have been several biogra-
hetti. Now -- it is impossible to write a phies written about this Beat
thorough research paper on the whole poet.
decade of the 1950s. It would take vol-
umes, and it has!! Don’t get caught with Ferlinghetti established a
too broad a topic because it will wear bookstore/publishing house in
you out, and you will wind up with a San Francisco called “City
sketchy, unsatisfying paper. Lights.” I further narrowed down
that topic to the early years of
“City Lights.”
Phase One
Step Four: Write a Pre-
liminary Thesis State-
ment
That sometimes happens for a variety of
The preliminary thesis statement keeps reasons:
you focused throughout the process so Now that you have com-
that you don’t wander off into irrelevant • Lack of information concerning your pleted Phase One in the
territory. specific topic. research paper process,
take a bit of a break be-
At some point in the process, you might • Too much information, which means fore moving onto Phase
want to change the approach you ini- you didn’t adequately narrow down Two, which includes:
tially thought you wanted to take with your topic.
your subject.
• Boredom creeping in as you further • Gathering Sources
research your topic.
• Maintaining a Working
More about the possibility of changing
your preliminary thesis statement is lo- Bibliography
cated in Phase Two of this brochure.
• Taking Notes
For now, develop what you think will be
a worthwhile, informative, interesting
preliminary thesis statement.
Organization/Outlining
In Phase One of this brochure, I emphasized the Writing the Paper
importance of writing a preliminary thesis statement
for the purposes of finding sources and taking notes. Ask ten people how they begin writing a research
paper, and you will get ten different answers. Some
At this stage in the process, you may have discovered start with the first sentence and plow through from
the need to fine-tune that preliminary thesis state- the first section to the last. Others select a particular
ment. Usually, a student thinks he/she has a clear section, write that out, then move onto another sec-
idea about what to say about his/her topic, but tion, although not in any order. You should write
somewhere during the note-taking stage, the student your paper in a way most comfortable to you, keep-
discovers that his/her perspective shifts. ing in mind that the final product should be well
organized! Remember - What you are writing is an
If this happens to you, please let me know because 8 - 10 page essay using outside sources.
at this point, you should have a definite, clearly
stated thesis statement, which you need in order to
organize and write your paper. Having a clearly A basic essay An 8 - 10 page re-
worded thesis statement will help you develop an structure has: search paper has
outline for your research paper. expanded essay
components:
There are several valuable websites that can help
you at this stage:
an introduction (be- Introduction: 1/2 to
• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general ginning) 1 page
/gl_outlin.html
Purdue University’s Writing Lab offers a concise, yet
a body (middle) Body: 7 to 8 pages
thorough explanation of outlining your paper.