Author: Cameron M Heim

Hi Everyone!

Once you have chosen a topic, gathered information, and written a thesis statement, the next step towards completing a research paper is typically drafting an outline! Outlines are very beneficial to writing and they make the process of drafting your final paper a lot easier. Some additional benefits to creating an outline include:

• Helping you keep your ideas organized
• Presenting your idea in a logical order
• Showing the relationships between concepts in your writing

So, how do you go about creating an outline? First, you want to determine the purpose of your paper. Next, consider who is the audience you are writing for? And finally, developing your thesis, which you should hopefully have already done! Then,

• List out all of the ideas that you want to include in your paper
• Take those ideas and organize any related ideas together
• Put those groups of ideas into an order. Ususally, you want to work from more general larger ideas, to more specific points.
• If needed for formatting, create headings and subheadings.

Keep in mind, creating an outline before writing your paper will make organization a lot easier. Weather you follow the guidelines listed above exactly, or modify it however may work for you, it will be beneficial to your writing process. Also, it will make drafting your paper in general much, much easier!

Happy outline writing!

~Cameron

Choosing a topic is typically one of the first things you need to do when writing a research paper. It can also be one of the most difficult decisions to make regarding a research paper. Here are a few helpful tips to help with choosing a topic!

Typically, a professor will have you working within a specific guideline for a paper that may limit your realm of freedom when choosing a topic, but there are still a few things you can keep in mind:

• Choose a subject that aligns with the Reasearch Paper Requirements
  • As mentioned above, Professor’s generally give guidelines that limit your realm of freedom when it comes to choosing a topic
  • Make sure that the topic you choose falls within the requirements of your Research Paper
• Choose a subject that sparks personal interest
  • Choosing a subject that aligns with your personal interests will make the process far more enjoyable!
  • This may be difficult depend on what class it is for, but try to choose a topic that at least somewhat interesting to you.
• Choose a topic that is focused enough that it is manageable
  • You don’t want to be so vauge in your topic that it is hard to find information that is specific to what you want to research

Good luck selecting a topic for your research paper that is intersting to you, fits the requirements of your assignment, and is specific enough to research. As always, feel free to stop by the Writing Center if you need help at any point in the writing process! Also, stay tuned for more blog posts helping to guide you through the steps of writing a research paper! 🙂

 

~Cameron

Hi everyone!

We have made it to the final stretch of the semester! Our hours this week are the same as ususal:

Monday – Thursday: 12:00pm – 8:00pm

Friday: 12:00pm to 4:00pm

During finals week, our hours are:

Monday and Tuesday: 12:00pm – 8:00pm

Wednesday: 12:00pm – 4:00pm

If you need assistance on any writing assignments for the final week of classes, or for a final, feel free as always to stop into the Writing Center! We are always happy to help, and essay due dates can definately be stressful at the end of the semester.

~Cameron