As you accumulate sources, make sure you create a bibliography, or a list of sources that you’ve used in your research and writing process (keeping track of those sources will help you to create you annotated bibliography, should your instructor require one.

Another part of your research plan should include the type of sources you want to gather.

Find a happy medium between a too-broad or too-specific topic to research.

If you narrow your focus, however, you can find targeted resources that can be synthesized into a new argument.

After all, researching and writing a long paper requires time, effort, and organization.

If you begin researching without a plan, you could find yourself wasting hours reading sources that will be of little or no help to your paper. To save time and effort, decide on a research plan before you begin.

Writing a research paper is an ideal way to organize thoughts, craft narratives, or make arguments based on research, and share your newfound knowledge with the world.

The text Successful Writing stresses that when you perform research, you are essentially trying to solve a mystery—you want to know how something works or why something happened. In other words, you want to answer a question that you (and other people) have about the world. This is one of the most basic reasons for performing research.

Your thesis will probably change as you write, so you will need to modify it to reflect exactly what you have discussed in your essay.

A thesis is weak when it makes an unreasonable or outrageous claim or insults the opposing side.

For any claim you make in your thesis, you must be able to provide reasons and examples for your opinion.

A thesis statement must present a relevant and specific argument.

As you may recall, the creation of a thesis statement begins when you choose a broad subject and then narrow down its parts until you pinpoint a specific aspect of that topic

Remember that a thesis statement does not summarize an issue but rather dissects it.

“What do I want to write about it?”

The textbook Successful Writing explains that writers need a thesis statement to provide a specific focus for their essay and to organize what they will discuss in the body of their writing.

The writing process takes patience.

How about changing “The 12th day of the month of April” to “April 12th?” As you revise, look for overly-complicated sentences and substitute simpler ones for clarity.

If your scope isn’t clear, then readers will constantly wonder when you’ll address the larger topic–or even assume you simply forgot to do it.

Even if you are brilliant and have great ideas, a muddy or boring introduction will turn away many of your readers.

A bad introduction is misleading, rambling, incoherent, boring, or so hopelessly vague that you know less about the topic than you did before you read it.

Does the ending reiterate your main idea without just summarizing what you’ve already said

As you review what you have written, you will undoubtedly see holes in your logic, sentences that confuse rather than clarify, and sentences and paragraphs out of place.

Writing well is an intellectually challenging, and draining, activity.

Revising requires a significant alteration in a piece of writing, such as enriching the content, or giving the piece clarity; editing, however, is not as involved and includes fixing typos and grammatical errors.

Combining different points in the same paragraph will divide your reader’s attention and dilute your argument

It is the most important information you select to argue for your point of view.

An outline is a written plan that serves as a skeleton for the paragraphs you write. Later, when you draft paragraphs in the next stage of the writing process, you will add support to create “flesh” and “muscle” for your assignment.

But only when you start to organize your ideas will you be able to translate your raw insights into a form that will communicate meaning to your audience.

The more specific you are in a literacy narrative, the more focused the details become. When you write about the time you learned to read and write, you wouldn’t want to focus on every detail of your life at the time, because it wouldn’t be useful to let the reader know that you learned to read at about the same time you visited Santa, or lost your first tooth, unless those details help you to tell your story.

Plot – The events as they unfold in sequence Characters -The people who inhabit the story and move it forward. Typically, there are minor characters and main characters. The minor characters generally play supporting roles to the main character, or the protagonist. Characters are fleshed out not only through how the author describes them, but also through their actions, dialogue, and thoughts. Conflict -The primary problem or obstacle that unfolds in the plot that the protagonist must solve or overcome by the end of the narrative. The way in which the protagonist resolves the conflict of the plot results in the theme of the narrative Theme – The ultimate message the narrative is trying to express; it can be either explicit or implicit. The theme of a story is also what makes it significant. If the story has lasting meaning to you, it will be meaningful to your readers.

Some examples of craft features include theme, characterization, setting, mood, imagery, persona, and plot–these help you to shape and craft your story.

As always, it is important to start with a strong introduction to hook your reader into wanting to read more.

Transition Words and Phrases for Expressing Time after/afterward as soon as currently during next now finally later until when/whenever at last before eventually meanwhile since soon still them while first, second, third

Once you have a general idea of what you will be writing about, you should sketch out the major events of the story that will compose your plot

. In other words, you convey the heart of what happened and what it meant, rather than intentionally changing aspects of the story to make it more interesting or to make yourself (or your Grandma or your third-grade teacher) look better.

Creative writing can take place in a variety of forms: poems, short stories, memoirs, novels, and even song lyrics. Literacy narratives can also be classified as creative nonfiction. Narratives whether in the form of a poem, a story, or an essay, often attempt to achieve, or create, an effect in the minds of the readers

Then look over the results for relevant and interesting articles.

Start with a blank sheet of paper (or a blank computer document) and write your general topic across the top. Underneath your topic, make a list of more specific ideas. Think of your general topic as a broad category and then list items that fit in that category.

In everyday situations, you pose these kinds of questions to obtain more information. Who will be my partner for the project? When is the next meeting? Why is my car making that odd noise? Even the title of this chapter begins with the question “How do I begin?”

Allow yourself to write freely and unselfconsciously. Once you start writing with few limitations, you may find you have a clearer position than you first realized.

Free-writing is an exercise in which you write freely about any topic for a set amount of time (usually three to five minutes). During the time limit, you may jot down any thoughts that come to your mind. Try not to worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, write as quickly as you can without stopping. If you get stuck, just copy the same word or phrase over and over until you come up with a new thought.

When selecting a topic, you may also want to consider something that interests you or something based on your own life and personal experiences.

When you begin prewriting consider why you are writing (to inform, to explain, or some other purpose) and for whom you are writing.

Effective writing can be simply described as good ideas that are expressed well and arranged in the proper order.

Every process, from writing to cooking, bike riding, and learning to use a new cell phone, will become significantly easier with practice.

An evaluation judges the value of something and determines its worth. Evaluations in everyday experiences are often dictated by both set standards but are also influenced by opinion and prior knowledge.

It communicates the main points of the document by examining individual points and identifying how the points relate to one another.

the purpose of an academic summary paragraph is to maintain all the essential information from a longer document. Although shorter than the original piece of writing, a summary should still communicate all the key points and key support. In other words, summary paragraphs should be succinct and to the point.

Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks. One paragraph focuses on only one main idea and presents coherent sentences to support that one point. Because all the sentences in one paragraph support the same point, a paragraph may stand on its own.

Don’t be shy about asking your professors questions.

An assignment sheet may be lengthy, but resist the temptation to skim it. Observe and interpret every detail of the text. Moreover, it is essential to focus on the keywords of the subject matter being discussed.

An important part of developing academic writing skills includes developing your own writing process. Your writing process includes all the steps you take from the time you receive a writing prompt to the time that you turn in a final draft for a grade.

A style that commands attention seems more like a river that changes at every bend.

For instance, you do not need to write, “Sue is like those people who always put off doing what they are supposed to do until much later than they should have done it in the first place,” when you can simply say, “Sue procrastinates.”

Tip 3: Vary Your Verbs

After you’ve finished writing a draft of your essay, go back and underline all the vague and general terms to see if you can replace them with more precise diction, words that are clear and specific.

The best way to develop voice is to keep writing and to think about what kind of writing you like. Pay attention to how you speak — what words you use, what sorts of phrases and sentence structures you favor, even what kind of punctuation appears in your work frequently. These are the choices that will eventually become markers of your authority.

Which example has a more formal voice or academic style? Which one would you want to read further?

To stimulate these connections, writers portray their attitudes and feelings with useful devices, such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language.

their readers will eventually associate those choices with particular writers — their unique writing accumulates to create an authorial voice.

Content is also shaped by tone. When the tone matches the content, the audience will be more engaged, and you will build a stronger relationship with your readers.

After selecting an audience and a purpose, you must choose what information will make it to the page.

succinct

For example, you update your status on a social networking site with the awareness of who will digitally follow the post. If you want to brag about a good grade, you may write the post to please family members. If you want to describe a funny moment, you may write with your friends’ senses of humor in mind. Even at work, you send e-mails with an awareness of an unintended receiver who could intercept the message.

College instructors will hold you to a higher standard when it comes to supporting your ideas with reasons and evidence

The textbook Successful Writing explains that high school teachers generally focus on teaching you to write in a variety of modes and formats, including personal writing, expository writing, research papers, creative writing, and writing short answers and essays for exams.

How did my instructor frame the assignment? Often your instructors will tell you what they expect you to get out of the reading: Read Chapter 2 and come to class prepared to discuss current teaching practices in elementary math. Read these two articles and compare Smith’s and Jones’s perspectives on the 2010 healthcare reform bill. Read Chapter 5 and think about how you could apply these guidelines to running your own business.

How you choose to break up the reading assignment will depend on the type of reading it is. If the text is dense and packed with unfamiliar terms and concepts, you may need to read no more than five or ten pages in one sitting so that you can truly understand and process the information.

Ask yourself, What do I already know about this topic? Hint: Look at the title to learn the topic. Asking yourself what you already know about a topic activates your prior knowledge about it. Doing this helps your brain wake up its dendrites where that prior knowledge is stored so that it knows where the new knowledge will connect. Flip through the pages, reading the captions found under any pictures, tables, and other graphics. Pay attention to italicized or bolded Are these words defined for you in the margin or in a glossary? Read the comprehension questions you find in the margins or at the end of the chapter. Count how many sections of the chapter there are.

Therefore, the first step in handling college reading successfully is planning. This involves pre-reading, managing your time, and setting a clear purpose for your reading.

Therefore, while reading, consider your writing situation.

A discourse community is a group of people who share basic values and assumptions and ways of communicating their goals.