Pre-draft Planning

Research writing is complex◦ It requires multiple iterations◦ Drafting leads to rethinking the problem◦ Rethinking leads to rewriting

Much of your early writing will be tossed

So, you need to leave lots of time for revision

The Writing Process

Who are your readers? ◦ What are they likely to know? What do they expect?◦ What opinions might they have?◦ Why should they care about your problem?

What tone do you want to have?◦ Objective observer◦ Passionately committed

What question are you posing?◦ Is there some gap or discrepancy in knowledge?

Make a plan

What are your main points and some of the sub-points

What is the sequence of the paper◦ Is it pre-determined? Or can you decide?

Make a plan (cont’d)

When do you start?

Ask yourself the following:◦ Is your point good enough to make?◦ Can you state the main concepts you plan to

develop in your paper in simple terms?◦ Is it contestable? Do you need evidence to

support it?

Outlining

Focus your outline on your main points Show the relationship between points Identify where you have evidence to

support them

When you’re done, you can use it as a skeleton to start drafting your paper.

Outline

Options◦ End of introduction (to show readers the path)◦ Conclusion (after you’ve shown the evidence)

Depends on the relationship you want to make with reader◦ Reader-controlled◦ Author-controlled

Depends on the field protocol Either way, make sure reader can get

information by skimming

Where to locate your main point

Spend time to reflect on the best way to organize your data

Categorize and re-categorize until you find the most interesting way to appeal to your reader

Example: SLA Paper◦ Modification type (simplification vs. elaboration)◦ Skill type (reading vs. listening)◦ Instructional mode (computer-assisted vs.

instructor-led)

Organizing Data

Chronological order Evidence to claims (Theories to hypotheses) Methodologies/Approaches

Categorizations

In what ways do you think you could organize your paper? Name 2 or 3.

Think first about your audience.◦ What kind of background information do they

need?◦ What are their expectations? ◦ What points and sub-points do you need to

provide?

Activity

Rules of Thumb:

Start with what is familiar first Then, move to unfamiliar

Start with shorter, less complex Then move to longer, more complex

Start with less contested issues (established theories)

Then, move to more contested issues

Ordering of information

Avoid building your paper out of summaries and quotations.

It should reflect your own original thinking (analysis).

Use observations to support your ideas rather than substitute for them.

Summarizing Sources

Review two of the sources that you have selected. In each, how has the author categorized the information? Why do you think the author choose this approach?

Decide on how you will categorize your information. Explain why. Create an outline based on your research problem. Cite sources where appropriate.

Homework