Day 27: Preparing the Outline

You will be able to:

-Outline their research paper in a reflective manner (given that they have completed the literature review section) and be more prepared for the write-up of the final paper.

You may be sick of outlining, but the outline you will work on today is actually a start to writing your research paper since you will actually be writing sentences and putting them in order.

Headings and Subheadings
We will review headings and subheadings at the beginning of class, but I don't want you to include the headings and subheadings until you complete your outline.

Create headings for the major parts of your paper (introduction, methods, results, discussion or maybe introduction, research, conclusion).

Create sub headings for important parts of your paper that make up the major parts. You can see an example of this in the methods section of THE SAMPLE ON ASSESSING WATER QUALITY.

Outline Requirements
1. Introduction (CARS): You need three sentences--one for each CARS movement
a. Brief background of topic
b. Identify gap in research
c. Fill in gap with your thesis statement

2. Literature Review: You need one sentence purpose for the introduction, a topic sentence for each topic in the body, and a one sentence emphasis of a need for research for the conclusion
a. Introduction--Present purpose for the literature and outline the structure
b. Body--Several paragraphs organized by topic focused on niche/related background information
c. Conclusion--Emphasize a need to fill in the gap

3. Body (your research):You need to provide a topic sentence for every body paragraph

4. Conclusion: Provide one sentence that responds to one of the following research paper types
a. Research question format--you must answer the research question
b. Argumentative format--conclude with restating your claim
c. Problem-solution--you must again present your conclusion on which is the best solution for the problem

Applying Headings and Subheadings
Now that your outline is complete, you will have the opportunity to go back and add headings and subheadings. Keep in mind that each citation style and journal has their own way to format headings and subheadings. You should choose a format appropriate for your field.

Preparing Questions
Now take some time to review your outline and prepare any questions you might have about the research paper to ask me in the individual conference.