Getting Started: First Step in the 5 Week Plan to write a Research Paper

Rachel Weaver

3/18/2014

I am a student at Lancaster Bible College and am currently enrolled in Professor Byxbe’s English class. This blog is a resource that I will be using for a future research paper. On my blog, readers will find exercises taken from The Curious Researcher and other classroom activities that are intended to help me produce a well written research paper that is due in a few weeks. This process is part of a “5 week plan” that focuses on writing a structured and well researched paper. I hope this helps you as much as it is going to assist me. Happy Reading!

Exercise #1:

Step 1: “You’re writing mostly for the instructor.”

I find this statement to be true but I wish that it was false. In most classes, I find myself writing a paper for the sole purpose of trying to impress the professor and to meet their demands on the assignment sheet. It can be a very odd task at times because it requires me to know what exactly they expect and what kind of writing style they are looking for. This varies greatly from professor to professor. I have found that when I write it is rarely because I am interested or care about what I am writing about. It is solely because I have to turn in an assignment and the professor expects certain things to be included. So, this statement is true when it comes to writing papers for instructors, but as I said before, I wish it wasn't.

Step 2: “There’s a big difference between a fact in science and a fact in humanities.”

This statement rings very true for me because I am a Christian. The Fact that Jesus dies on the cross for my sins is indisputable in my mind but as many scientists argue, there is not concrete science to back up this fact. I find that humanities are more universal than facts because people can relate and experience things together in order to form fact and opinion. Humanities focus on society and truths that have become truths over time and with human influence. For example, a scientific fact looks like statistics and numbers. A humanities fact may be something more like “there are many people suffering from hunger around the world and we have the power to change that.” This is true because as Americans, we do have money and resources we just need to adjust our priorities and realize that a fact does not need to be science. It can be a global or societal truth.

This exercise was used to give me a chance to simply write what came to my mind on a provided topic. I set a timer for 3 minutes and wrote out my ideas based on the statement provided by the book. I was instructed to agree, disagree or see both sides on the statement. I allowed thoughts to come to my head and let my ideas guide my writing. This exercise gave me insight into how valuable it can be to write the thoughts that come to my mind in a way that does not require a format or layout when being instructed to respond to a topic. This exercise was just an attempt at getting ideas on paper and it proved to be effective because I found that my opinions and values were evident in my 3 minute writings. This exercise can be used to encourage my creativity in future writing and including personal value in my responses. I encourage others to do this because it is a great place to start when brainstorming ideas for a topic.