The document provides guidance on drafting a research paper, including organizing data, drafting different sections such as results and discussion, and choosing and presenting evidence. It emphasizes connecting each paragraph to the overall argument, providing context and analysis for evidence, and considering implications and relevance in the conclusion. Students are advised to follow common research paper structures and formatting conventions.

1. Drafting
your
research
paper

2. Mini-peer review:
methodology and
charts
• Methodology
– Includes what, how, from
whom, analysis, and limitations?
– Organized logically?
– Enough details to follow?
• Charts, graphs, tables (if they
have them)
– Organized logically?
– Make sense to an outside
reader?
– Best way to present the data?

3. Organize your data
into your outline
• Decide what main pieces of
evidence you want to include
(quotes, numbers).
• Add them to your outline.
– Copy them onto the page
or
– Create a number system (1 for
intro, 2 for methods, 3 for
expertise section, etc.) and
write the corresponding
number next to your data
or
– Color code

4. Drafting Results
• Should include:
– Charts, tables
– Summary of the
important findings
• Start with a topic
sentence that connects
your findings to your
argument
• Point out the
important details

5. Results: Example
After analyzing the data I collected from the
coded transcripts, I discovered a pretty
significant difference in my writing style
between writing the composition assignment
and the senior letter, as I had assumed. While I
wrote the composition assignment, 27.3% of the
time I spent on it was due to distractions; while I
was writing the senior letter, and only 6.9% of
my time was due to distractions. I also noticed a
huge increase in editing while writing the senior
letter. I spent about 13.6% of my time editing
the composition assignment, while 24.1% of my
time was editing the senior letter. Time spent on
writing and planning also increased on the letter
as well. This is because the amount of times I
got distracted while writing the letter decreased
significantly, allowing more time to be spent
writing, planning, or editing.
Assignment Comp
osition
Senior
Letter
Planning 38.6% 41.4%
Writing 20.5% 27.6%
Editing 13.6% 24.1%
Unrelated/Di
stractions
27.3% 6.9%

6. Drafting discussion
or
combo results/discussion
• Write a topic sentence for one of your
sections. Should connect to overall
argument and also the main point of
that paragraph/section
• Example: “One of the first topics
discussed in this section of the
conversation was how these students
defined creativity.”
– Connects to section argument
(“Defining Creativity and Its Place in
Writing”), but could connect to overall
argument better
– Better: “In our conversation, students
easily arrived at a common definition
of creativity, but they confessed that
such creativity is rarely encouraged in
the classroom.”

7. Drafting:
choose evidence
• Decide what evidence
you’ll use to support your
topic sentence.
• Decide what order to
present your evidence in.
– Example:
• Interviews:
– “thinking outside the
box”
– “looking at a problem
from a different
perspective”
– Quote from Matt about
fairytale writing

8. Drafting
with evidence
• For each piece of
evidence, you
should include:
– Context
– Evidence
– Analysis (here or
later

9. Start drafting one
of your sections.
• Start writing about one piece
of evidence.
– Context
• “The four participants generally
agreed on what it essentially means to
be creative.”
– Evidence
• “They concluded that creativity is
‘thinking outside of the box’ and
‘looking at a problem from a different
perspective.’”
– Analysis
• “As predicted, answers to this
question were very brief and to the
point. Their answers to the follow-up
questions, however, proved more
interesting.”
(This student has more analysis at the end of
the section. You could also choose to do
your analysis here.)

10. Drafting with
evidence
• Add another piece. Show
the connections.
– Context / topic sentence
• “I next asked a series of
questions about how these
students use their creativity in
their writing assignments.”
• Better, more argument-driven
version: “The students’
responses about their use of
creativity in writing
assignments indicate that their
instructors allow some
creativity, but still have
restrictive requirements that
limit students’ ability to
express themselves.”

11. Drafting
with evidence
• Evidence
– “When I asked what they think about
creativity when it comes to writing,
Matt responded that he “has learned to
write his papers to earn the grade that
he needs,” a remark with which Erica
agreed. This answer led the group into
a conversation about creative writing in
which Michael stated that creativity is
relative to the class situation. He
explained that a creative writing class
heavily values creativity in writing
more than an entry level English class
does. Erica, however, responded,
“Even in creative writing classes you
have to follow what [the instructors]
want, so you can’t exactly write the
way you want.”

12. Drafting
with evidence
• Include analysis either after all
the evidence has been
presented, or intersperse
analysis throughout.
– “What we can gather from this data
are some general conclusions about
creativity. For one, students want
to be creative in their writing. They
feel it offers extensive flexibility
and keeps the writing process lively.
Students attempt to utilize
creativity to their advantage, and
are even encouraged by their
instructors to do so, such as when a
teacher gives a writing assignment
and says, ‘Be creative.’ However,
grading does not reinforce this
encouragement, as evidenced in
what Matt said about the research
paper in which he had to analyze
fairytales.”

13. Drafting
with evidence
• Keep adding until the
end of the
paragraph/section.
• Remember that you can
have multiple
paragraphs in each
section.
• Write an analysis of the
section that connects to
your overall argument.
• Share.

14. Remember Swales
and
the CARS model?
• Establish territory
– Claim centrality
– Make a topic generalization
– Review previous items of research
• Establish niche
– Counter-claim
– Indicate a gap
– Raise a question
– Continue a tradition
• Occupy niche
– Outline purposes
– Announce principal findings
– Indicate research-report structure

15. Let’s establish
a territory
“The college English classroom has
become one of the most highly
debated subjects over the last ten
years. Literacy instruction in this
environment—as well as high school
classrooms—has become the main
focus and concern for teachers and
researchers alike. A long and
contentious debate rages on how to
administer writing instruction in
these settings. Some are concerned
that students are no longer being
taught how to write, but what to
write.”
(claim centrality/topic
generalization)

16. Establishing
a territory, take 2
“I remember my first day as a
Publix bagger two years ago. I went
in thinking, ‘Shoot, any moron
could put groceries in a bag.’ On
my first day I was paired with
Dennis, a sixty-five-year-old bagger
who’d been working for Publix for
eight years. He didn’t say much,
but he told me to watch him and,
when I felt I was ready, to go ahead
and take over for him. I then
observed what to put with what,
what to keep by itself, and what to
double-bag. It was a little more
complicated than I had thought and
I was impressed by their means of
communicating these rules to me.”
(topic generalization: it’s okay to have
a little fun with this)

17. Let’s establish
a niche
“While most would agree that this is
true, they disagree on what to do
about it. But in order to fully capture
the essence of this heated argument,
we need to take a closer look at what
teachers value in writing instruction.
Furthermore, we need to consider
creativity and its role in writing
instruction.”
(indicating gaps: sneak preview of
argument)

18. Wait…back to
establishing
territory?
“The general opinion among
scholars and teachers is that
writing instruction has become too
formulaic and too rigid. Many
advocate that we strip the system
down to its core values. For
example, Sharon Gibson lays out a
framework that essentially
captures the essence of writing
instruction.”
(review previous items of research:
LIT REVIEW)

19. Let’s occupy
the niche.
“Much has been discussed on the
topic of creativity and literacy instruction
from a teacher’s standpoint. The perception
among these teachers (and most teachers, for
that matter) is that creativity must be allowed
to flourish in a classroom setting. And most
teachers are, in fact, applying creative
methods in their writing instruction. What is
missing from this conversation, however, is
the most important voice: the student’s. How
do students perceive the use of creativity in a
classroom setting?”
(conclusion to lit review; pointing to research question.)
• You could (and probably should)
outline research/findings here:
– “In order to answer this question, I
conducted a study in which I [brief
description of methods]. My findings
suggest that [preview of findings].”

20. What do I say
in the conclusion?
• Sum up important points
– “Creativity, according to the students that
participated in the focus group, is no longer
coming from the extensive imaginations of
students, but has instead been defined and
laid out by teachers for the students to
exploit. This form of creativity does not
provide students with a way to express their
specific type of creativity, and when
students attempt to do so, they are
penalized through harsh grading. It is time
that teachers and instructors lift the
restraints that this rigid definition of
creativity has established, allowing students
to think critically about writing assignments
through the lenses of their own,
individualized versions of creativity.”

21. What do I say in
the conclusion?
• Point to the bigger picture: why it
matters
– Implications for people’s lives
– Implications for future research
– Implications for teaching
“As for creativity, I am advocating that
instructors lift the restraints of the current
standards in today’s classroom by simply
allowing creativity to be expressed in a way
that is suitable to each individual student and
not standardized. It is important to remember
that each student is different, and each
student can bring something mind-blowing and
unique to the table if he or she is simply
allowed to do so. Creativity is in the eyes of
the beholder, and it is the responsibility of
teachers to recognize and take this into
account in their classrooms.”

22. What to include
in your paper
• Descriptive title
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Results/Findings
– Divided into sub-categories
with subject headings
• Discussion (or conclusion)
• Any Appendixes where you may
want to include further data
• Works Cited

23. Formatting
• Major headings should be in
bold
• Minor headings should be in
italics
• Headings can be centered,
or aligned left
• Double-spaced
• If you include images in
your paper, label, “Figure
1,” “Figure 2,” etc., so you
can refer to them in your
writing.