29 Research Writing Project Overview

7/27/2019 29 Research Writing Project Overview

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Research Writing Project: Overview Valerie Ross

You will now put to use the strategies of reasoning, evidence, and arrangement, as well asintroductions and endings that you learned and practiced in the first part of the semester. Emulating

the approach of scholars and professional writers when producing longer works, you will research andwrite in sequenced chunksunits of reasoningthat you will ultimately be able to use in whole or

part for your final research essay.

The research essay assignment is broken into four main parts leading up to the creation of the finalresearch essay. Each of these stages, in some form, is to be found in the writing of most disciplines

and professions.

Analysis and evaluation of the object of study (in this case, your research text):Putting your close reading skills to use, you will outline it; you will then use your skills of

synthesis to identify keywords for it and write an abstract of it. Then you will analyze the text

to identify an issue in it that you wish to pursue and write a brief statement of interest. You willalso identify some of the sources that the author of your research text consulted and prepare tolocate those sources for yourself.Synthesis of author and sources: For some the most demanding and ultimately mostrewarding part of research or problem-solving, this particular form of synthesis demands

creative thinking as you analyze the four texts to locate relationships across these differentdocuments, the research text itself and the sources it cites in the selected section of the book.

This work of pattern identification, while initially strenuous, almost invariably results in newinsights and ideas. You will once again engage in close reading and analysis as you outline and

write abstracts of the three articles, as well as produce a Table of Common Elements that willhelp you find commonalities. This stage of the research project culminates in another chunk of

writing, a synthesis of sources.Synthesis of keywords: Following one or more leads from your complex synthesis, youwill choose a keyword that will lead to the discovery of three or more sources to elaborate andlikely complicate your initial findings. In this stage, you are building upon the work you began

in the earlier steps. Once having located three articles related to your selected keyword, youwill outline and write abstracts of these, and add them to your Table of Common Elements as

you continue your process of analysis and synthesis of research. The work you do in this stagewill provide you, and ultimately your readers, with a deeper and broader context for your final

project. Along with practicing the skills and knowledge you have acquired during the course ofthe semester, you will also be acquiring an increasingly sophisticated understanding of text-

based research techniques and library resources and research strategies, including subject-specific databases and Boolean searches. The synthesis of keywords will be the last assigned

building block of your research essay.Synthesis of book reviews (collaborative exercise). Like the synthesis of keyword-based literature, this synthesis of reviews provides you and your readers with a differentcontext for considering your research text. It will reveal how some other scholars and critics

viewed the book you have been intensely studyingperhaps more intensely, at this point, thanthe reviewers! You may be able to incorporate what you learn from this exercise, but the goal


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here is to teach you how to find and consider reviews of scholarly texts, which is an excellent

strategy for familiarizing yourself with texts on your course reading lists as well as texts citedin writing assignments. Its also an indispensable strategy for graduate students and scholars in

text-based fields. Finally, and most importantly, it introduces you to a strategy of analysis andsynthesis that you can use to break down and emulate any written genre: gather a few

examples of the genre (in this case, book reviews), preferably on the same topic, and look forthe elements they have in common. In so doing, you will create a does outline that you can

use to produce a text in that genre yourself.

Once you have completed these basic building blocks of a research paper, you will be ready to usesome or all of your work as the foundation of your final research essay. You are free to write an

explanatory or a justificatory paper. Base this decision on the complexity of the material, the natureand knowledge of your readers, and your own goals and desires as a writer and apprentice scholar. If

your readers are unfamiliar with the material you are discussing, it might be wise to write anexplanatory essay. Its difficult to persuade a reader to agree with you on an issue about which they

have little knowledge. If, on the other hand, your readers have a basic familiarity with the issue athand, it may make more sense to write a justificatory essay that persuades them to consider your

perspective on the matter based on the inventive arguments and evidence you will present.

As the sequence progresses, you are likely to encounter many intriguing avenues for further research.

Beware: Stay the course. The purpose of this sequence is to teach you how as a writer to join ascholarly conversation. Too many false starts will prevent you from gaining the depth of knowledge

needed to participate in that conversation. You need to learn how to identify, analyze, and enter intothe debates, explanations, and proposals that the scholarly community is making. This may mean

contributing to the solution of a well-defined problem, identifying a new problem, arguing in supportor in opposition to a position held by others, or perhaps contributing an entirely new perspective,

reasons, or evidence to a field. Since you have only six or seven weeks to familiarize yourself with theissue, you need to stay focused and build upon what you encounter, rather than change topics. If, as

your project unfolds, you are drawn to other topics, make note of these. You can always sign up forrelated classes or propose an independent study or research project with one of your professors. But

for now, be pragmatic: you will learn more about writing and researching (the goal of the course) bystaying focused. Finding patterns and relationships takes study, time and serious thought.

In turn, if you absorb this approach to writing papers, you will not only write substantive papers, you

will also learn much about planning and managing lengthy reports and essays and, for some, book-length work. You will also have acquired, in short order, the practice and knowledge of reasoning and

research that will serve you in various walks of life. You will be able to recognize what others wantyou to believetheir propositionsas well as the soundness of their reasoning and in turn organize

and test your own, whether as speaker or writer. You will know how to break open a discipline or

profession, and their genres, and commence your apprenticeship as a writer, noting their structure ofreasoning, premises, nature of evidence, main players. You will also get an introduction to andsubstantial practice in the very basis of innovation and creative thinkingcomplex synthesisa skill

in great demand in all professions.


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The Research Text

Outline and provide keywords for the book

The research text will provide the foundation for your research paper. That is why we ask you to readit carefully, like a scholar or professional in the field. If you give all scholarly or professional textsthis kind of reading, you will rapidly develop a depth of knowledgepresuming the book itself is

worth careful reading. In the sciences, the research text is generally data, and the same closeattention is paid to data as you are asked to do in this phase of the research sequence. The object of

study may vary from one field to another, but the approachcareful observation and analysisis aconsistent feature.

Write a says statement for each chapter. (2-3 sentences maximum) Write a does statement for each chapter (3-5 sentences maximum). Use your Guide to

Says/Does Outlines, as well as the following questions, to help you consider what the chapter is

doing. Here are some questions you might consider in terms of analyzing what a chapter does: What kind of proposition/reasoning is being used: justificatory or explanatory? How does the chapters proposition relate to the books proposition? How is the chapter organized: by division (i.e., first, second, third), or by

reason/refutation, chronology, spatial/numerical organizations? Does the chapterintroduce a set of premises and challenge them? Introduce and explain a problem?

Pose a problem and solution? Refute or extend or concede a position? Provide aliterature overview (synthesis)?

Use what you have learned in the first half of the semester to identify the rhetoric ofreason: is the author providing reasons, evidence, refutation, concession?Sometimes the author actually subtitles these blocks of reasoning, making your job

a little easier. When you have completed each chapter, write or revise, as appropriate, what you regard as the

books proposition. Your understanding of the books proposition may or may not dovetail

with that of the author.

Finally, as you complete each chapter, make a note of its keywords. Keywords are significantwords, or sometimes phrases, that capture the main ideas of the book. Librarians (as well as

Google, Wikipedia, etc) use keywords to organize information. You will be using one or moreof these keywords later on as the basis for your research projec. Coming up with keywords is a

form of simple synthesis (dividing, defining, classifying information).As you read the chapters, be on the lookout for a section that attracts your interest. Make note of the

sources that the author uses to discuss that topic, as well as any special features related to it: footnotes,

maps, charts, illustrations, important acknowledgments, etc.

Synthesis: Author and Sources Assignment Sequence

Read:

Explanatory Reasoning


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Analysis and SynthesisStatement of Research Interest:

Write a brief statement, approximately 150-200 words, that outlines the issue, drawn from your

research text, that you will be exploring. Also provide a bibliography of at least five sources cited bythe author related to this issue. Note that you will be staying with this issue for the remainder of thesemester, so take a few moments to explore your outline and the book itself. Dont overlook

footnotesthese can sometimes be a condensed overview of a particular debate or problem in thefield. Choose sources wisely. Your first instinct may be to select short, easy sources, such as

newspaper articles or photos, but you will find that the more bare-bones your sources, the moredifficult this assignment sequence will be for you. Read the remaining instructions to get a sense of

what awaits you. More challenging readings (longer and more substantive) will provide you withmore topics and opportunities for complex synthesis as the assignment unfolds. On the other hand, if

you choose texts that are very long and difficult, you will not have enough time to read and mull overthe possible relationships among and between the texts.

Research Text Source Articles/Books: Three outlines

Choose three sources from the list you compiled for your Statement of Research interest. Use the tools

your instructor or librarian introduced to locate these three sources (this process is called known itemsearching). If you cant gain access to a source or discover that it is unreadable, try another from your

list. Read the three sources. Do a rhetorical outline of each of these sources. If the article is dividedinto subsections, do a subsection says/does. If the article does not have delineated subsections, then

create your own subsections. If the source is a book, do a chapter says/does. Note that you mayconfine your reading of a book to its preface, introduction and conclusion, along with whatever

chapter(s) have been cited by your author. Submit copies of the articles and relevant chapters of thebook, along with your outlines.

Author Source Abstract.

Write a 250-300 word abstract of one of the three articles you have outlined.

There are two kinds of abstracts:

a) Descriptive: gives brief summary of the purpose, method(s), scope of workb) Informative: includes the information provided in a descriptive abstract, but also addresses the

main arguments and the conclusion of the text.

All abstracts should include:- A full citation of the source. Precedes the body of the abstract.- The most important information first (the proposition of the piece), followed by the main ideas

supporting that proposition.

- The same level and style of language found in the original, including technical language.


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Dont translate jargon; if the article uses it, you should use it. That cues the reader into the

level of difficulty and targeted audience of the text.- Key words and phrases that quickly identify the content and focus of the work- Clear, concise language

Although the architecture of the abstract varies with discipline, the main elements are these, which you

should use as a guide to writing your abstract.

Proposition: What is the main argument/thesis/claim? What problem does this work attempt to solve?What is the scope of the project?

Significance: What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in the larger

work?

Method: Depends on the discipline: Some disciplines in the humanities do not describe theirmethodology. However, an abstract of a scientific work or social science work may include specific

models or approaches used in the larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types ofevidence used in the research.

Results: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the results of the

project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way.

Implications: What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? How doesthis work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

Prewriting Analysis: Creating the Table of Common Elements

The most important step in synthesis is to read the sources. Synthesis is creative intellectual work that

involves identifying patterns or relationships that others have not already remarked.

If you have nothing to work with, you will find no patterns: plain and simple.

As you reread your selected section(s) of the assigned research text, along with the sources you havechosen, look for common premises, sources, terminology, positions, authors cited, ways of

approaching the problem, types of evidence used, and other elements that catch your attention and thatstrike you as possibly common ground across the four texts. Also note significant points of departure.

This activity of breaking a cluster of data into smaller elements and studying them is called analysis.

Refer to the reading, Analysis and Synthesis, to refresh your understanding of these operations.

Beginning with the second article create a table illustrating the common elements shared by yoursources, with page numbers referencing where each element appears. Continue to add to this table as

you read, first including your three author sources and the research book. In a future assignment, youwill be synthesizing another set of articles as you continue to acquire expertise in your topic, or what is

sometimes called domain knowledge.


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Complex Synthesis of Author & Sources: Skeletal Outline

Using your Table of Common Elements, and whatever else has helped you to find a pattern acrossyour four texts (author, three sources), create a skeletal outline. For this outline, you do not need to do

an overview. Instead provide the following:

Explanatory Proposition: Statement of Complex Synthesis

Then divide your four sources into four reasons, each of which features one of the four individualauthors as the subject of the explanatory reason:

For example:

Proposition: Authors A, B, C, and D are informed by the work of Kenneth Burke:

Reason 1: Author A uses Kenneth Burke as.


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Reason 2: Author B uses Burke as ..

Reason 3: Author C uses Burke as.Reason 4: Author D uses Burke as

Now write the same proposition, but provide at least two explanatory reasons for which the four

authors are the subject. For example:

Reason 1: Authors A, B, C, and D use Burkes authority to launch their argumentsReason 2: Authors A, B, C, and D use Burkes concept of humans as symbol-producing beings

Reason 3: Authors A, B, C, and D agree with Burke that the study of rhetoric is fundamental to humanunderstanding

Essay: Author, Sources 800-1000 words, with an abbreviated rhetorical outline, that explains a relationship, link, or pattern

that connects all of the following: your research text and three (or more) of the sources it draws

upon. Use your Table of Common Elements and your Skeletal Outline as guides, once these havebeen approved by your instructor, tutor, and peer reviewer.

Your rhetorical outline should have the following overview elements:Proposition

Description of Synthesis: explain to the read the specifics of your synthesis. May be a paragraph or

more, depending on the complexity of your synthesis. Note that you are presenting the results of yoursynthesis, so this is a chance to demonstrate to your readers in greater detail what elements you

isolated and the pattern your identified.

Audience:

Goal:

Plan:

Here are some representative propositions for explanatory (complex) syntheses:

Authors W, X, Y, and Z share a premiseAuthors W, X, Y, and Z rely on the same source for some (or all) of their argument

Authors W, X, Y, and Z use the same term but define it differently.Authors W, X, Y, and Z use the same data/evidence for some or all of their explanation or argument

Authors W, X, Y, and Z seek the same outcomeAuthors W, X, Y, and Z agree upon the cause of B

Authors W, X, Y, and Z agree upon the effect of B


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Authors W, X, Y, and Z use the same methodology

Authors W, X, Y, and Z have the same belief in ()

Note that in each case the author of the complex synthesis has identified a pattern that s/he detected inall four sources. The complex synthesis must include the author of the scholarly text as one of the four

sources, and seek a point of intersection, common ground, shared by all four:

Figure 1: Complex Synthesis of Author & Sources

You are free to develop and arrange this research essay as you wish. However, you are advised to go

back and review the materials and exercises on explanatory reasoning and consider the best way topresent your main and subpoints (reasons) to make it engaging and accessible to your readers. This is

also a good time to study the scholars you have been reading in your seminar (and perhaps in otherclasses) to see how they construct their explanationsskillful writers are always on the lookout for

effective strategies and structures (does), as well as words and ideas (says).

Synthesis of Literature: Keyword Articles

Read:

Analysis and Synthesis Explanatory Reasoning Three keyword articles


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Keyword Research Articles: Three Outlines, One Abstract

Now that you have immersed yourself in a scholarly topic, and performed your own complex synthesis

(no small feat), its time to pursue further information and follow one or more of the leads generatedby your synthesis. Come up with a few keywords or keyword phrases related to it, and then find at

least three articles generated by that particular keyword or keyword phrase. Outline the articles as youdid in the last exercise: by subsection identified by the author or by yourself, if the author didnt use

an explicit principle of division. Write an abstract of one of the articles, using the directions providedin the prior exercise.

Note that if you attempt to mingle keywordsin other words, find one article on one keyword, and

two others on a different keywordyou may dilute rather than deepen your project. In this phase,your aim is to extend and intensify your synthesis rather than branch into different directions. If you

were a scholar or had a few years to work on this, you might indeed branch out and explore a varietyof leads. However, the final research project for this class must be based on your author synthesis.

Given the limited amount of time until semesters end, and our goal of your getting some experienceentering deeply into a scholarly topic, its wise for you to stay focused on one keyword. It willsimplify the synthesis you need to do for this portion of the work.

You may be able to expedite your keyword process if one or more of your author synthesis sources

focuses on the issue that interests you. In that case, you should be able to find the article or bookskeywords. These are available on the librarys online description of them. Here, for example, is a

screenshot of an article on video games that I located through the librarys EBSCO database. Noticethat along with the author, publication, and abstract, the citation also provides a list of Subject Terms

keywords! Clicking on these opens up other articles that have already been organized by thatkeyword. The library has kindly done the first step of my synthesis for me:


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A researcher may get lucky and happen upon an article that offers up the right keywords in this

effortless manner. But generally speaking such keywords are beginnings, rather than ends, as theresearcher tries to hone in as precisely as possible upon his point of inquiry. Like the act of complex

synthesis, coming up with keywords is a mixture of hard work and luck.

For your keyword search, use the databases the librarian has provided your class to locate at least threearticles on your selected keyword. Look over the articles: If they have abstracts, read them. If you

cant find three readable articles, search some more or try another keyword.

If you have no luck with identifying useful keywords, consult with your colleagues, your instructor,the writing tutors, and most of all, the librarian assigned to your class. Librarians are typically brilliant

keyword searchers. You may use the library chat feature on the librarys home page, or go to Van Pelt

and visit the reference desk. All of these will help you drum up and refine your keywords. Research isa social act. Once you find your three articles, read, outline, and write abstracts of them.


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Prewriting: Table of Common Elements, Continued

Continue to assemble the Table of Common Elements that you began in the first stage with your

author and sources. Analyze and chart the common elements shared by all of your sources (complexsynthesis). At this stage, what you set out to synthesize will depend on the direction you wish to go.

For example, your keyword articles might provide further background on your author synthesis, orthey may address a question or fill in a gap raised by your complex synthesis.


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At this stage, you are likely to be looking for distinctions as well as connections. For example, if you

are seeking background informationhave other scholars explored some aspect of my authorsynthesis proposition?you might want to see how each weighs in on it. Similarly, if you are filling

in a gapwhat do other scholars say about the costs of the death penalty?you might find scholarsthat confirm but also dispute your findings. Since the librarians have done the work of complex

synthesis for you in this instance (gathering all of the articles under a particular keyword) you may beable to engage in the work of analysis and then division and classification, or what is called simple

synthesis. Theres nothing simple about it.

Figure 2: Simple Synthesis: Sorting & Dividing

You may wish to divide your sources into categories based on their methodology, or problemdefinition, or premises. You may find that three use the same type of evidence, while others use

different forms of evidence to ground their claims. In the figure above, all of the disciplines share thegoal of improving student writing (complex synthesis/shared problem identification and goal), but they

divide into a few distinct groups when it comes to their approach, their evidence, or their solution.

Synthesis of Literature Essay: Keyword Articles: Skeletal Outline

Proposition:Synthesis Description:

Audience:Goal:


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Synthesis of Literature, Essay or Chunk, and Abbreviated Outline

You have the option of imbedding this portion of your research into your complex synthesis, or ofwriting a new chunk.

Imbedding: 400-500 words of explanatory reasoning based on your keyword articles.Highlight the section that you have imbedded. Make sure that this synthesis relates to the

proposition of your complex synthesis, which you are likely to have to revise at least somewhatbased on the knowledge you will acquire from this portion of the assignment. Also pay

attention to overall unity and coherence. Feel free to revise your complex synthesis toaccommodate your new findings. This draft can serve as a draft of your final project

(maximum 1500 words). Include an abbreviated rhetorical outline with proposition,description of syntheses, audience, goal, and plan, as well as paragraph-level says/does

descriptions.

New: you may not feel ready, as yet, to integrate your findings into your complex synthesis.In that case, feel free to write a 500 word chunk and abbreviated rhetorical outline using thesame categories as for the imbedded version above. If you choose this path, do not fret about

making direct connections; just explain what you have found. Your next step will be todiscover how to synthesize your own findings to create your final essay. Sometimes these

things need to percolate for a bit before bigger connections identify themselves.

You are free to use whatever strategies and arrangement that you feel will best meet the needs of yourreaders. Make sure that you do, however, adhere to the demands and basic architecture of explanatory

reasoning. Review the prior materials on explanatory reasoning and study the scholars you haveoutlined to see how they approach the task of explaining their syntheses.

Please be aware that, as with all text-based syntheses, reading the texts carefully is crucial.

Here are some typical propositions for explanatory complex syntheses (pattern identification),

demonstration of which is required in the final project.

Authors W, X, Y, and Z share a premiseAuthors W, X, Y, and Z rely on the same source for some (or all) of their argument

Authors W, X, Y, and Z use the same term but define it differently.Authors W, X, Y, and Z use the same data

Authors W, X, Y, and Z seek the same outcomeAuthors W, X, Y, and Z agree upon the cause of B

Authors W, X, Y, and Z agree upon the effect of B

Here are some typical propositions for explanatory simple synthesis (dividing and sorting into groupsthat are joined together by a conceptual linkcommon text, premise, focus, etc).

Authors W, X, Y, and Z define (KEYWORD) differently.

Authors W and X agree that (KEYWORD/ISSUE is (fill in the blank), while


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Authors Y and Z argue that (KEYWORD/ISSUE) is (fill in the blank).

The main premise of Author W about Z is (fill in the blank), while the other authors use premise X asthe basis of their arguments about Z.

While some authors argue X about Z, others argue Y about Z.While some authors use statistics as their primary reasoning about Z, others use case studies to

demonstrate their proposition about Z.Author X and Y are social scientists and thus their major concern about Z is (fill in the blank). In

contrast, Author W is a literary scholar, and Author M is a zoologist, so their concerns about Z aremarkedly different.

Assignment: The Research Essay

Skeletal Outline, Research Essay

Your final research essay will be a 1500 word explanatory complex synthesis with abbreviated outline,Custom Proofreading Sheet, and at least one peer review.

For your skeletal outline, include the following:

Proposition:

Description of complex synthesis: explicit discussion of what you synthesized and its originality (i.e.,

not simply a reporting of ideas and evidence that others have already presented in published work).

Audience: (faculty readers: describe as you understand and imagine them and their knowledge andattitude toward the topic and toward you).

Goal:

Plan:

Works Cited: At least five, including the research text

Research Paper 1500 word single-spaced explanatory complex synthesis, with works cited, abbreviated rhetorical

outline, Custom Proofreading Sheet, and at least one peer review. The explanatory complex

synthesis must be based in whole or part on the research text.

Thefinalresearchessayislikelytociteallsourcesusedinthecomplexsynthesisandperhapsthekeywordsynthesis.Tobecertainthatyourpropositionisexplanatory,basedontheresearch

text,andtheresultofcomplexsynthesis,yourfirstdraftpropositionshouldincludeallofthe

authorsasitssubject.However,thefinaldraftpropositioncouldbebasedonasynthesisof

scholarlyworkaboutatopicraisedbytheresearchtextthatyouhaveexpanded,throughyour

keywordsearch,toincludeadditionalresearch,sothatthesubjectofthepropositionisaparticularconceptorobjectratherthantheauthorsassuch.

29 Research Writing Project Overview

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