STUDENT WRITING Teaching Students to Write Research Papers Working Sources into the Paper

You want to work quotations and paraphrases into the texture of your own prose, carrying an argument in your own voice. Remember that you are using your sources as evidence for your own argument. In other words, you need to construct a thesis and argument that presents your ideas, not those of the primary and secondary sources you read.

Choose a documentation style
The format of citations depends upon the documentation style you are using — for example, MLA, APA, CMS. Select a style appropriate for your discipline.
Consult a style manual (your instructor may recommend one, or there may be a standard one for your discipline).

Your Working Title and Introduction
A good title is an important part of your project as it is your reader’s first introduction to your essay. Your working title can be a question, a summary of thesis or purpose, or a two-part title with a colon. For example:

• Will Patriarchal Management Survive Beyond the Twentieth Century?
• The Relationship between Client and Therapist Expectation of Improvement and Psychotherapy Outcome
• Money and Growth: An Alternative Approach
• Fine Cloth, Cut Carefully: Cooperative Learning in British Columbia (this one begins with an interesting mystery phrase that will become clear after reading the essay)

An introduction has three main parts: the first part introduces the reader to the problem the paper addresses. This section usually contains needed background on the problem and often reviews previous scholarship that has addressed it. Frequently, the writer explains why the problem is problematic (for example, why earlier attempts to solve the problem have been unsatisfactory) and why the problem is significant and worth pursuing. The second part explains the focus and purpose of the essay, and includes the thesis. The third part gives the reader an overview of the research project.