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Paideia 112 Research Unit

A step-by-step guide to the Research Paper Unit in Paideia 112.

Strategies for Revising Your Paper

  • Write out a tentative thesis statement, making sure its language is specific and sufficiently narrow. Imagine yourself "presenting" the case for this claim to an audience. How can you best arrange your information to develop your thesis?
  • Make an outline of your paper, using full sentences to describe the argument within each section. If you make only a list of topics as your outline, you run the risk of simply conveying information in one paragraph after another, with no argument or analysis to link the paragraphs to your thesis.
  • After you have composed the outline, look over your tentative thesis and ask yourself whether or not you have acually proven your claim. Does your outline provide an argument for this thesis, or are you simply recording facts and dates?

Preparing for the Writing Workshop

  • Check your section syllabus for the assigned date to bring your full working draft to class for a workshop. 
  • Bring two or three specific questions about your draft to the workshop to help your reader know what to focus on.
  • Your instructor may ask you to also bring Worksheet 8: Progress Report (see Home: Worksheets 1-10), if you have not done this already.
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