Chapter 39: DEVELOPING THE PAPER
by
Suzanne Drapeau Morley, Oakland University
What
is the overall process for writing a research
paper?
Note:
This chapter also appeared in a Prentice Hall
guide to researching in college, from which it
is taken by permission of the author and the
publisher. ---
Starting
Your Assignment
Finding
a Topic
Finding
Sources
Drafting
Your Paper
Developing a Thesis Statement
Synthesizing Information
Citing &
Documenting
Revising
Your Paper
Editing
Your Paper
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Introduction
As a college student, you will be
asked to write research papers in many of your classes.
It is important that you grow as a scholar and become comfortable with
and adept at creating scholarly texts. This
competence comes through practice; study of the writing process, rhetorical strategies, reader expectations,
and
disciplinary conventions; and reflection on the success of the writing
strategies you apply and the quality and success of your texts. This
chapter introduces you to these research processes.
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Starting
Your Research
Assignment
Instructors design research paper
assignments to meet specific learning objectives, and these objectives will vary
depending on the instructors’ training and experience, the structure and
requirements of the course, and the individual assignment.
However, three objectives are present, to some degree, in all forms of
research writing: first, instructors want you to develop skills in research and
documentation; second, instructors want to challenge your reading skills by
requiring you to summarize, analyze, and evaluate scholarly texts; third,
instructors want you to become part of the scholarly conversation through your
research writing.
When you receive a research
assignment, your first task is to be clear on the parameters of the paper and
the expectations of your instructor. Ask
questions in class and during office hours to be sure you understand the
learning objectives of the paper as well as the specific requirements for the
assignment. In order to start your
research project, you need to be able to answer the following bulleted
questions.
-
What is the minimum length for the paper?
The instructor will usually have
clear expectations on the minimum length of your paper.
Take this requirement seriously. If
you find you need more space to complete your writing task, then you should
discuss this with your instructor.
-
How many and what kinds of sources should be included in the
body of the paper? What are the
source requirements for the works cited?
The length of the paper is
directly connected to the number of required sources.
A common rule is to have two (2) citations (references to authoritative
texts) per double-spaced page of text (250 words).
For example, if you are asked to write a paper of 2500 words,
approximately 10 pages, you will need roughly 20 in-text citations from a
variety of sources including articles from scholarly journals, government
documents, field research, etc. This
is a general statement, so you will need to verify specifics with your
instructor. Be clear on what the
writing situation requires.
-
What citation format should you follow?
The
answer to this question depends on the discipline you are writing for:
Modern Language Association (MLA) format is used in the humanities and in
this text; American Psychological Association (APA) format is used in the social
sciences; Council of Science Editors (CSE) format is used in mathematics,
physical sciences, and life sciences. Always
confirm the documentation style with your instructor.
-
What is the purpose of the paper?
The specific purpose of your
individual paper will be determined as you research, read, prewrite, and draft,
but your instructor may prescribe a general purpose: to inform or to persuade.
An informative structure allows you to educate readers and present
information in an objective manner. A
persuasive structure allows you the opportunity to arrange evidence in such a
way that your readers agree with (or at least accept) your position on your
topic. Put another way, your
persuasive paper should seek to engage an audience that disagrees with your
claim (debatable thesis); at a minimum, readers should identify with your
argument, and accept your position on the topic, but ideally, readers will agree
with your position and change their thinking, behavior, or attitude.
Ultimately, whether your paper is informative or persuasive, your goal
should be for your readers to gain something out of your writing.
If you only think about grades and getting done, you still need to
develop this important characteristic of an essay because most instructors look
for a strong sense of purpose when evaluating.
-
Is there an assigned topic?
Sometimes an instructor has
specific content he or she wants you to learn, or maybe the class is studying an
umbrella theme, so you may have an assigned topic.
Occasionally, you may even be asked to write a research paper based on an
assigned thesis statement—for the purpose of in-class debate or the like.
If you have an umbrella theme or assigned topic, do not feel as though
you are limited in your study or approach. You
have a great deal of freedom to focus the topic in a way and area that interests
you.
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Finding a
Research Topic
If you need to choose the topic,
consider the assignment criteria as you decide.
Certain topics are not compatible with certain requirements.
For example, if you are to write an argumentative paper, finding a
debatable claim is critical. While
experienced rhetoricians may find an argument in just about any topic,
undergraduate writers may find it difficult to find an argument in topics such
as the history of Social Justice Theory, the food pyramid, or deciduous forests.
So the purpose and length should be considerations as you think, discuss,
and prewrite about your possible topic.
Try brainstorming in each of these
topic categories: hobbies, your personal academic interests, your major, or
current social or political events. Write
for a limited time to create four lists, 5-10 minutes per category.
Here’s an example of brainstorming.
Brainstorming Example
Hobbies
Cars
Vintage
clothing
Travel
Gardening
Yoga
Running
Weightlifting
Music
Cooking
Reading |
Academic
Interests
Religion
Philosophy
Chinese
culture
“How
people learn”
Constitution
Service-learning
research
Sudan
’s Civil
War
|
Your
Major
Education--public
funding
History- -Interpretation of
an event
Spanish--Translation
strategies
Rhetoric--Propaganda
|
Current
Events
U.S./Iraq
United
Nations
International
Relations
War
Poverty
Crime
Social
Justice
Pop
culture
Elections
|
Perhaps you could inform others about a hobby.
Maybe you have a personal interest in stages and theories of child
development because you have a new niece or nephew.
Or your major or current events offer a controversy that you can develop
into a researched argument. Be sure
the topic you choose can be narrowed to fit the assigned length of the paper as
well as fit an assigned purpose.
Once you have a general topic,
whether chosen or assigned, you are ready to begin your focusing activities.
Questions are among the best ways to focus.
You can create your own questions specific to your topic(s) or try some
of these. You might write down your
responses, simply think about the questions, or discuss them with a friend,
classmate, tutor, or teacher. Keep
in mind that writing leaves you with a record of ideas for future drafting or to
share with your teacher. Sometimes
you cannot choose a topic and will need to show your instructor that you have
been trying, and how you have approached the exploration of topics.
Freewriting
Freewrite
for 5 minutes without regard for grammar, correctness, or audience.
-
Why do I care about
this topic?
-
What do I know
about my topic?
-
What do I believe
about my topic?
-
What is a possible
conflict?*
-
What would I like
to learn about my topic?
-
Have I read
anything recent about my topic?
-
What questions
would my reader have?
-
Where can I find
information on my topic?
-
Does my school have
a department or major in this topic area?
-
Where might I find
an expert on my topic?
-
How does this topic
affect my community?
-
How does this topic
impact me personally?
*useful
for argumentative assignments
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You may want to complete this exercise for more than one
topic if you cannot choose yet. When
you have found a topic(s), and written about that topic(s), and tried to focus,
consider taking a break. Put the
assignment and your prewriting aside and do something else.
Depending on your due date, a brief walk in the fresh air may be all you
can schedule. If you have more time,
then take a full day. By putting the
ideas aside, you come back refreshed and able to see the possibilities more
clearly. (Caution:
This part of the writing process is important; however, taking a break
can easily become a procrastination technique.
Guard against procrastination.)
You have thought, written, rested,
and now it is time to make some decisions. You
need to confirm your topic and consider possible approaches to that topic.
At this time you are ready to create a tentative thesis.
This is not the same as the thesis that will govern the paper.
This tentative thesis is only a guiding idea that will allow you to
structure your research. This is not
a committed relationship. If a silly
metaphor will work, consider your tentative thesis to be a blind date.
Things might work out, you might suddenly get ill and need to leave, or
you might even meet someone else. Regardless,
you have begun your paper.
[For more details about beginning to write, see the "Starting"
section of this Web site.]
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Finding
Sources
Planning your research will save
you time and result in more and better information.
How much time will you allow for researching?
Where will you do your research? What
kinds of sources will you look for? What
search terms will you use? Be
prepared for each research session by writing a brief or detailed plan of what
you will accomplish and how long you will take to accomplish it.
A good place to begin your
research is with general sources like dictionaries, encyclopedias, general
readership publications, and Internet searches.
These resources will give you a background in your topic and offer
feedback on the relative success of your search terms.
You may even be fortunate in finding a bibliography or two in
encyclopedia entries or Internet sites. Follow
up on the leads these references offer.
You will certainly find some
quality information on-line, but do not rely on the web for all of your research
as there is a lot of trash out there. To
begin evaluating the credibility of an Internet site, look at the domain of the
URL (universal resource locator). This
means the suffix of the web address: .gov, .edu, .org, .com.
Each kind of website has a some kind of bias or agenda.
For example, www.loc.gov is a
government site, the Library of Congress; www.oakland.edu
is a state university in
Michigan,
Oakland
University
; www.soulofacitizen.org is a nonprofit site, a
place to learn about community service and a book by Paul Rogat Loeb; and www.amazon.com
is a commercial site, a place to engage in e-commerce.
Consider the goals and objectives of each site you find, and analyze the
sites use of rhetorical strategies. Is
the site successful in accomplishing its purpose?
What kinds of sites will offer the most suitable information for your
paper?
After browsing the Internet and
broad-readership publications, you need to pursue articles in scholarly
journals. A scholarly journal is
defined by three characteristics: 1. the
journal is peer-edited, reviewed by experts in the field; 2. each article
includes in-text citations and a works cited or bibliography; and 3. there are
no advertisements in the publication. Authoritative,
well-researched information is present in articles from these academic journals,
and you can find them in your campus library, electronic databases such as
research navigator, and, occasionally, on-line.
Your scholarly research, and even your web browsing, will be most
efficient at the library. All
resources housed physically or electronically have been analyzed and evaluated
by a professional librarian which means the quality of the text has been
determined for you. This means less
time evaluating sources for reliability and more efficient searches.
Government documents are
materials produced by the United States Government Printing Office (GPO).
Your campus library may be a full or partial government documents
depository library, so you will have access to materials on topics as varied as
“aluminum” and “zebras.” Government
websites are also available to you. Most
research papers will benefit by including Census data; Congressional hearings,
bills, or reports; or decisions handed down by the judiciary.
Finally, many instructors request
or require field research. This
means gathering your own evidence through an interview, survey, experiment, or
observation. You will contribute to
the scholarly dialog by adding new data, not just synthesizing existing data.
Consider interviewing one or more authorities on your topic.
Start early in order to schedule a meeting that allows you to meet your
writing deadlines. Prepare your
questions in advance; dress professionally and be on time for your appointment;
and send a thank you note after the interview.
A survey is also a good way to gather data about trends and beliefs.
Even running an experiment or attending an event will offer readers new
information. See your instructor for
assistance in designing and executing your field work.
You will likely be surprised by some of what you find in
your research, or at least you can hope you will.
A research project that does not reveal new information becomes very
boring. A research paper of any
length will require you to read many more texts than you will include in the
actual paper. Anything and
everything you learn about your topic, even things you do not cite in the paper,
will be indirectly present in your writing because of your confidence and
competence. The more you know, the
higher-level your thinking will be. Read.
Take notes. Summarize.
Read some more. Read until
you are no longer surprised by what you find.
The drafting and revising of your paper becomes much easier if you commit
adequate time and care to the discovery of ideas.
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Drafting
Your Research Paper
The word draft can
be used as a noun or a verb. As a
noun, draft means the earliest version(s) of your paper; you have sentences and
paragraphs. As a verb, draft means
performing the actions, steps, or strategies a writer uses when creating a full
version of his or her text. While
you may draft at any point in the writing process, most drafting occurs after a
writer has completed substantial research, reading, and prewriting.
Begin drafting someplace, any
place (the middle, beginning, or end). The
important thing is to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and write.
Contrary to popular belief, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing
badly several times. No one begins
and ends with their first draft, not even the most gifted scholar and writer.
As you draft, give yourself
permission to write badly. Your
draft is an opportunity to explore structure and organization and figure out
what you think about what you have learned.
Try calling your first draft your “icky draft.”
Writer’s block is not an issue if you just write.
Write anything. Answer
questions. Write in crayon.
Write on a brown paper grocery bag. Choose
the strategies that work best for you, but remain aware of other strategies as
you may need them at a different time or with a different assignment.
Strategies
for Drafting
The following is a
list of suggested strategies. Which
ones might help you draft your paper?
-
Be sure you are in a
comfortable setting and have all of your supplies and research with you.
-
Allow yourself to make
mistakes.
-
Carry blank pages with you
wherever you go, so you can jot down a paragraph when it comes to you.
-
Don’t write yourself into
a corner. Leave a place to
begin—like half of a sentence for the next time you sit down to write.
-
Draw a picture.
-
Go on tangents.
You never know where fabulous ideas may emerge.
-
Write a letter or e-mail to
a friend or someone else who would be interested in your topic.
Talking to a specific audience in an informal note allows you to express
yourself without thinking about what your teacher will think
-
Write a
letter or e-mail to someone who is an authority on your topic. Send
your letter.
-
Start in the middle, as the
introduction can be a hard place to start.
-
Start with an introduction
you know you will cut, just to get writing.
Once you reach the conclusion, you can go back and completely rewrite the
introduction to suit the paper you actually write.
-
Write from a position that
conflicts with your thesis.
-
Allow yourself adequate
time to consider the draft and think about where to go with your ideas.
This means allow for breaks.
-
Write/type several main
points you want to cover, kind of an informal outline, and move around the
document, jotting sentences under each heading as ideas come to you.
-
Put aside everything you
have written. Then write everything
you can remember about your topic. This
allows you to focus on what is most compelling.
Sometimes a fresh start is easier than trying to fix a weak draft.
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After a draft or two, your paper will have a shape, albeit
an awkward one in some cases. With your
draft, you can move to detailed questions of tone, audience, specific purpose,
and specific thesis.
You need to recognize the tone
of your essay in order to control it. How
would you describe the mood you wish to convey?
Neutral? Frustrated?
Pleased? How might your tone
shift throughout the paper? What
tone does your reader expect? The
attached sample student paper by Alex Hollier provides a good example of the
importance of tone. Throughout his
research, Alex was turned off by the biased tone he found; in fact, the tone of
many authors damaged or destroyed the validity and credibility of their work.
Even when authors argued for his beliefs, Alex often found the overly
passionate tone to be a problem. In
his paper, he sought to present a neutral tone, and he was concerned this
neutral tone might lead his readers to believe he did not care about the topic
or paper. He monitored, discussed,
and revised tone throughout the writing process.
Be familiar with your specific
audience in order to anticipate questions, conflicts, and confusion.
Who is your specific audience? In
what magazine or journal might you publish your essay?
What do they know about your topic? What
are their beliefs about your topic? What
reasons do they cite? What does
demographic data reveal about your audience?
Knowing this information allows you to choose appropriate levels of
detail, diction, and style. If you
audience does not know anything about violent behavior in relationship to
playing violent video games, then you need to explain the issue.
You may have been assigned a
general informative or argumentative purpose, but now it is time to get
specific about the purpose of your paper. What
do you wish to accomplish with this text? (And
assume that passing the class is not what your instructor is looking for here.)
Would you like to see a change in readers’ actions?
Do you seek a change in thought? Do
you simply wish to call attention to an issue and leave the solutions to be
discussed in other essays? What do
you want readers to think, believe, change, or do after reading your paper?
Remember, all writing is of value,
even if it seems unsuccessful. Each
time you explore a piece of your writing, you learn something about language and
your topic.
[For more details about beginning to write, see the "Starting"
section of this Web site.]
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Developing a Thesis Statement
Along with the development of tone, audience, and purpose, you need to
focus attention on your thesis; your guiding idea--tentative thesis—needs to
become a concrete statement. Your
thesis statement, which is a sentence or two placed early in your paper, must
tell readers your topic and your position on your topic.
Here are some examples.
1.
Current welfare reform policy in the
United States
is not reducing the number of families
living in poverty.
(Topic:
Welfare reform. Position:
It is not reducing poverty.)
2.
Research demonstrates that smaller public school classes will
increase student learning.
(Topic:
Student learning. Position:
Smaller classes will improve it.)
3.
There are three learning styles—visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic.
(Topic:
Learning styles. Position: There are
three.)
You may also choose to include main points in your thesis:
This works well in guiding readers through longer papers.
1.
Current welfare reform policy in the
United States
is not reducing the number of families
living in poverty because it does not adequately address problems of affordable
housing, education and training, and employment opportunities.
2.
Research demonstrates that smaller public school classes will
increase student learning by increasing individual instruction, assessment, and
feedback.
3.
There are three learning styles—visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic. Surveys and tests can
identify the primary learning style of an individual.
The main points should be in the same order as they appear
in the body of the paper.
Developing your thesis requires special attention to
diction and order. You want the
words to communicate your exact plan, and you want the structure to mirror the
body of the text.
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Synthesizing Information
Quality research and your own experiences and observations are necessary
to a high quality research paper, but you need to step further into the
intellectual process than simply juxtaposing secondary and personal data/ideas.
You need to make connections, create insights that could not exist
without your creative and critical thinking.
A cliché works well here: You want your whole paper to be greater than
the sum of its parts. This is an
ambitious but achievable goal.
Take what you have learned from
you research, and look at it beside what you have experienced and observed in
your own life. How do things
connect? What contradictions are
present? How can you reconcile
contradictions? What common ground
exists?
[For more details about arguing or about responding to a specific reading, see
the "Arguing" or "Responding
to Readings" section of this Web site.]
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Citing
& Documenting (Using Quotations, Paraphrases,
& Bibliographies)
Using Sources in Your Paper
The purpose of using outside
sources in your paper is to develop the content and credibility of your writing.
You want the evidence you use to be reliable, verifiable, sufficient, and
ethical. Ethical references do not
take author(s) out of context, manipulate statistics, or otherwise present
evidence in a manner not intended by the original author.
There are three main ways to incorporate secondary sources
in your writing. Each type of
evidence requires an in-text citation.
Direct quotation is when
you borrow exact words from a text and put those words in quotation marks.
This is a good way add authority, content, and specific diction to your
paper. When quoting, use only parts
of sentences in order to communicate the essential meaning of the passage but to
maintain the flow of your paper. Including
too many long quotes makes the paper look like a patchwork quilt of other
voices. Be sure your voice has
primacy.
Paraphrase is putting short
passages of a source into your own words. This
is a good way to weave ideas into your paper while maintaining your voice and
flow. Be sure to use your own words
and not the author’s exact words.
[For more details see this
section's chapter on "Quoting &
Paraphrasing."]
Summary refers to using
your own words to reduce a text to its essential ideas: thesis, main points, and
conclusions. Summary presents a
large body of information in a condensed form while maintaining your voice,
tone, and flow. [For more information, see
the "Writing
a Summary"
chapter.]
Documenting
Your Sources
The purpose of documenting sources
is to give credit to others for their work, whether direct quote, paraphrase,
summary, fact, visual, or other evidence. Proper
MLA documentation [the system used in most English and composition courses] in your research paper means you incorporate in-text citations
(sometimes called parenthetical citations) and a works cited page (a list of all
sources referenced in the paper). The
information in the parenthesis tells readers exactly which author you are
borrowing from. The works cited list
then tells your reader the publication details of the source and how he or she
can retrieve the same source.
[For more details about MLA and
other citation and documentation formats, see the
OnlineGrammar.org's "Chapter
17.Citation
& Documentation."]
Underlying the importance of
correctness in documentation is the absolute necessity to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the use of another’s words or ideas without giving credit
to the author. Incorrect and omitted
documentation are plagiarism. Error
in documentation, even if unintentional, may not seem as bad to you as
deliberately cutting and pasting entire paragraphs or buying a paper, but error
or malice in academic behavior are both problematic.
Unintentional errors and oversights indicate that a student has not
achieved mastery in the conventions of research writing; deliberate cheating and
stealing indicate that a student has not accepted responsibility for his or her
academic and ethical behavior. Regardless
of form, plagiarism indicates a need
for corrective action, either at the classroom or administrative level.
Familiarize yourself with the academic conduct policy at your school.
[For more details about
plagiarism, see "Avoiding
Plagiarism" in the "Quoting & Paraphrasing" chapter.]
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Revising
Your Paper
Revision is the art of rewriting
or rethinking a piece of writing. Once
you have a draft, a shape for your paper, you will want to address the quality
of your presentation. You want to
convey both your ideas and your credibility, so you need to revise for
global—essay level—issues of unity, organization, transition, coherence, and
flow. While these rhetorical issues
can be addressed during drafting, most writers include them in the revision
stage. Unity, which is
desirable, is demonstrated when all main points, details, and evidence are
directly connected to the thesis/claim. While
creating a sense of organization is a large part of drafting, polishing
that organization is important in the revision stage.
Look for connections and natural transitions between and within
your paragraphs.
Transitioning
-
planned
repetition of language
-
transitional words or expressions
-
parallelism
-
repeated
image or idea
-
logical
connection between two images or ideas
-
theme or
symbol
-
summary
of the preceding paragraph
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You may need to move paragraphs to improve the organization.
Internal transitions, connections within paragraphs, should be clear
to readers. To strengthen coherence,
check the logic of sentence order and look for ways to use transitional words or
phrases.
Since you want your paper to read
smoothly and logically, you will have to analyze carefully your writing.
What works? What doesn’t
work? What do you need to do to
improve the quality of the text? Revision
is your opportunity to make sure your paper communicates what you want to your
audience.
Strategies
for Revising
Here are some strategies for revising your paper:
-
Read the paper to someone
else. Note places where you stumble.
-
Have someone else read the
paper to you. Where does the text
sound vague?
-
Outline the paper, looking
for gaps in information and research as well as organization.
-
Seek feedback from others.
-
Print the most recent
version of the paper, cut the paragraphs apart, and move the pieces of paper
around looking for patterns and possibilities, not just concerns.
-
Get some distance; then
look at your paper with “fresh eyes.”
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[For more details about revising, see the "Revising"
section of this Web site.]
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Editing
Your Paper
Editing means taking time to
address local—sentence level—issues such as correctness of punctuation and
mechanics, diction, and sentence variety. Try
editing backwards. To do this,
isolate and check the last sentence, then the second to last sentence, then the
third to last sentence. Doing this
takes the ideas out of context, so you can focus on sentence structure.
Do the backwards process at least three times.
Each time, look for different issues.
If you know you struggle with commas, look closely at commas.
If you struggle with apostrophes, look closely at apostrophes.
If you frequently use the wrong word, look closely at usage.
Finally, edit for wordiness, which can be a problem for students
trying to meet length requirements. Add
more ideas and support for your thesis/claim.
Cut all unnecessary or repeated words and ideas.
Spend some time focusing on, even pondering, diction—language
usage—during your editing. Be
aware of denotative (dictionary) and connotative (implied or associated)
meanings, so each word does its job and no word is distracting to readers.
An additional consideration when choosing or polishing diction is
analyzing the sound and tone of each word. Does
the word have hard sounds? soft
sounds? Which kind of sound fits the
sentence and paragraph best?
Combine sentence structures using subordination and coordination to show
relationships between ideas. Deliberate
attention to sentence patterns can improve rhythm, flow, and readability.
However, the primary job of sentence variety is to demonstrate
relationships between ideas. Consider
using compound sentences, which show equal relationships between two or more
ideas; complex sentences, which show unequal relationships between two or more
ideas; and compound-complex sentences, which show complicated relationships
between several ideas. Even though simple sentences work to create emphasis and
state facts clearly, too many simple sentences can become boring, so be sure to
consider the overall balance of your sentences.
[For more details about editing, see the "Editing"
section of this Web site.]
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Conclusion
Ultimately, whatever steps you
take when writing—for there is not a single process—your goal is to hand in research papers with confidence, which necessitates successful
selection and application of rhetorical strategies.
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