Purpose

The final product of this assignment will be a thesis-driven, persuasive research essay that addresses the research question you established in the Topic Proposal.

Audience

Think of your audience for the Research Paper as a well-informed member of an academic discourse community who may not be familiar with your specific topic. Remember what you learned about perspective and bias to construct your identity as the writer in relation to your imagined readers.

Objectives

• Apply strategies for brainstorming and drafting a researched argument
• Locate, organize, and structure the key points in your argument
• Develop, warrant, and support a logical argumentative thesis statement
• Recognize, differentiate, and apply components and structures of a research paper
• Revise for content, rhetorical context, structure, and style
• Accept, interpret, and apply peer feedback in the revision process
• Apply strategies for proofreading at the sentence-level

Process

1. Revisit your Topic Proposal and Annotated Bibliography taking note of the following:
   1. Research Question
   2. Topic relevance
   3. Methods
   4. Scope of Sources
   5. Gaps and Limitations in existing research
2. Begin drafting the research paper. Use your annotated bibliography and synthesis assignments as “raw material” to build upon.
3. Once you have a completed first draft, participate in a peer-review session or schedule an appointment with the writing center. Take notes during your peer review or consultation so you’ll know how to start revising your paper.
4. Revise your research paper, focusing on content, rhetorical context, structure and style.
5. Proofread your final draft, focusing on sentence-level errors, citation consistency, and overall document format.

Format and Source Requirements

The Research Paper should follow MLA or APA style for document format, citations, and references. It should include a title page, an abstract, and a references page (as well as any relevant appendices).

You must cite (directly or in paraphrase) at least 6 of the 8 sources you collected for the Annotated Bibliography. Though you may use other sources, consult your instructor if you want to use fewer than 6 of your original sources.

The body of the research essay should be 7-8 pages (1750 to 2000 words) not counting the title page, abstract, references page, and appendices.