Research Paper -- First Draft

Many students make the mistake of writing a report, not an argumentative essay, when they write a research paper.
ReporterReporting literally means relaying information.  It does not mean you are stating your ideas on a topic. It does not mean giving your opinion about information.  Good reporting is simply being a messenger of information.  When reporters do give their opinions, they are no longer reporting. 

Since I have asked you to write an argumentative research paper, the foundation of your paper must be your ideas, your opinions, about your topic. You need to think about what you think about your topic. These are the ideas you will write in your first draft of the research paper.  Later, you will add information from other sources (books, journals, newspapers) to support your ideas.  However, it is important to understand that you are using quotes as support for your ideas, not presenting them as your ideas or as the only ideas in the paper.

Therefore, I want you to write the first draft of your research paper without quotes from sources.  I want you to write it like one of our other essays … using only your own ideas and words.  Then, for the rest of the semester, you will work to expand your paper by adding supporting material from sources to validate your ideas.

Be a thinker, not a reporter!

 Thinker

So you have a clear idea of what I am looking for, here is an example of a research paper first draft written for this class about a year and a half ago. It is not perfect, but a good start ...   (Click the big scribd button if you want to see the page full-sized.)

HAW Research Paper Draft 1 Example
Example Research Paper -- Music - Upload a Document to Scribd
Read this document on Scribd: Example Research Paper

Laurie Miller
Email:llmiller@gmu.edu
Last Update: March 20010


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