WWII Research PaperWriting Process

Step 1 – Pre-Writing• Understand the assignment expectations• Choose a topic that you are interested in and that meets the

assignment expectations• Do some preliminary research—not to gather data, but to

familiarize yourself with the topic• Understand the research options available to you (books,

Internet, etc.)• Start a Source List to keep track of your sources• Use note cards to keep track of the facts, statistics, quotes,

etc. that you find while researching• When you think you are finished researching, organize your

note cards into paragraphs

Step 2 -Drafting• Familiarize yourself with various introduction techniques for

expository writing. Choose one that works for your topic.• Remove the stack of note cards from the first paragraph

section of your organizer.• Put the note cards into order according to which facts you will

use first, second, etc.• Synthesize those facts into complete, coherent sentences• Repeat for each of the sections on your organizer• Before writing your conclusion, familiarize yourself with

appropriate conclusion techniques for research papers• Red over your introduction. Try to tie your conclusion into

your introduction (use some of the same keywords, ask or answer some questions, reference something from the intro.

Step 3 - Revision• Revision is making changes to your draft in the areas of

organization, ideas, word choices, sentence fluency, or voice.• Revision is best done with the ears. Read the paper out loud

to hear if anything sounds awkward or confusing. Mark the confusing or awkward passages.

• Have a partner help you find confusing or awkward parts and make suggestions for clarification and improvement.

• Move sentences around, change words, add or delete passages—do whatever it takes to improve your writing.

• At this point, you may type up your paper and print a copy before the next step, editing.

Step 4 - Editing• Editing is checking for conventions errors—spelling,

capitalization, punctuation, format, etc.• Editing is best done with the eyes.• Have a partner carefully read through you paper only for the

purpose of finding these conventions errors and marking them for you.

• Use spell-check and grammar-check as you type to help you discover errors.

Step 5 - Presentation• Now it is time to get the paper all set up to be turned in as a

final copy.• Research papers MUST be typed in proper MLA research

format.• Punctuation is especially picky for research papers, so be very

precise. Take your time with this step.• You must have a proper heading, title for you paper, in-text

citations, and a works cited page.