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The Five Commandments of Writing Research Papers From Georgetown University ©1996 Most university courses involve
some sort of extended writing assignment, usually in the form of a research
paper. Papers normally require that a student identify a broad area of
research related to the course, focus the topic through some general
background reading, identify a clear research question, marshal primary and
secondary resources to answer the question, and present the argument in a
clear and creative manner, with proper citations. That is the theory, at least. But
how do you go about doing it all? This brief guide provides some answers.
Teaching
Yourself From the outset, keep in mind one
important point: Writing a research paper is in part about learning how to
teach yourself. Long after you leave college, you
will continue learning about the world and its vast complexities. There is no
better way to hone the skills of life-long learning than by writing
individual research papers. The process forces you to ask good questions,
find the sources to answer them, present your answers to an audience, and
defend your answers against detractors. Those are skills that you will use in
any profession you might eventually pursue. The
Five Commandments of Writing Research Papers To write first-rate research
papers, follow the following simple rules—well, simple to repeat, but too
often ignored by most undergraduates. 1.
Thou shalt do some background reading, think hard,
and speak with the professor in order to identify a topic. At the beginning of a course, you
will probably not know enough about the major scholarly topics that are of
most importance in the field, the topics that are most well-covered in the
secondary literature or the topics that have already had the life beaten out
of them by successive generations of writers. You should begin by doing some
general reading in the field. If nothing else, begin
with the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a wonderful but sadly neglected
resource. Read a few books or articles on topics you find of interest. Follow
up the suggested reading on the course syllabus or the footnotes or
bibliographies of the texts you are reading for the course. After that, speak
with the professor about some of your general ideas and the possible research
directions you are thinking about pursuing. And you should do all this as
early in the course as possible. 2.
Thou shalt have a clear research question. A research question, at least in
the social sciences, begins with the word “why” or “how.” Think of it as a
puzzle: Why did a particular political or social event turn out as it did and
not some other way? Why does a particular pattern exist in social life? Why
does a specific aspect of politics work as it does? How has a social or
political phenomenon changed from one period to another? The question can be
general or particular. Why have some countries been more successful in the
transition from Communism than others? Why did the Labour Party win the last
British general election? How have conceptions of race changed in the US
since the 1960s? How do different electoral systems affect the behavior of
political parties? The point is that you should
attempt to identify either:
Professional social
scientists—historians, political scientists, sociologists, international
affairs experts—work on both these kinds of questions. In the best published
social science writing you will be able to identify a clear “how” or “why”
question at the heart of the research. “How” and “why” questions are
essential because they require the author to make an argument. Research
questions that do not require an argument are just bad questions. For
example, a paper on “What happened during the Mexican revolution?” requires
the author to do no more than list facts and dates—a good encyclopedia entry,
maybe, but not a good research paper. “What” and “when” questions are only
the starting point for writing research papers. Obviously, you need to have a
firm grasp of the facts of the case, but you must then move on to answer a
serious and important “why” or “how” question in the paper itself. 3.
Thou shalt do real research. “Real research” means something other
than reading secondary sources in English or pulling information off the
Internet. Real research means using primary sources. What counts as a primary
source, though, depends on what kind of question you are trying to
answer. Say you want to write a paper on
the causes of Communism’s demise in eastern Europe. You would begin by
reading some general secondary sources on the collapse of Communism, from
which you might surmise that two factors were predominant: economic problems
of Communist central planning and Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet
Union. Primary sources in this case might include economic statistics,
memoirs of politicians from the period or reportage in east European
newspapers (available in English or other languages). Bring all your skills
to bear on the topic. Use works in foreign languages. Use software packages
to analyze statistical data. Or say you want to write about how
conceptions of national identity have changed in Britain since the 1980s. In
this case, you might examine the speeches of British political leaders,
editorials in major British newspapers, and voting support for the Scottish
National Party or other regional parties. You might also arrange an interview
with an expert in the field: a noted scholar, a British government
representative, a prominent journalist. The point about primary sources is
that they take you as close as possible to where the action is—the real,
on-the-ground, rubber-meets-the-road facts from which you will construct your
interpretive argument. There are, however, gradations of primary evidence.
The best sources are those in original languages that are linked to persons
directly involved in the event or development that you are researching. Next
are the same sources translated into other languages.
Then come sources that are studies of or otherwise
refer to direct experience. In your research, you should endeavor to get as
close as possible to the events or phenomena you are studying. But, of
course, no one can speak every language and interview every participant in a
political or social event. Part of being a creative scholar is figuring out
how to assemble enough evidence using the skills and resources that you
possess in order to make a clear and sustainable argument based on powerful and
credible sources. One other note for Georgetown
students: In a city that contains one of the world’s great research
libraries, representations from nearly every country on the planet, the
headquarters of countless international organizations, numerous research
institutes, and scores of other political, economic, cultural, and
non-governmental associations and institutions, both domestic and
international, there is absolutely no excuse for the complaint that “I can’t
find anything on my topic in Lauinger.” 4.
Thou shalt make an argument. Unfortunately, many undergraduate
research papers are really no more than glorified book reports. You know the
drill: Check out ten books (in English) from the library, skim through three
of them, note down a few facts or mark some pages, combine the information in
your own words, and there you have it. This will not do. Your paper must
not only assemble evidence—facts about the world—but it must weave together
these facts so that they form an argument that answers the research question.
There are no once-and-for-all answers in any scholarly field, but there are
better and worse arguments. The better ones have powerful evidence based on
reliable sources, are ordered and logical in the presentation of evidence,
and reach a clear and focused conclusion that answers the question posed at
the beginning of the paper. In addition, good arguments also consider
competing claims: What other counter-arguments have been put forward (or
could be put forward) to counter your points? How would you respond to them?
In fact, consideration of counter-arguments is often a good way to begin your
paper. How have scholars normally accounted for a particular event or trend?
What are the weaknesses of their accounts? What evidence might be marshaled
to suggest an alternative explanation? How does your account differ from the
conventional wisdom? 5.
Thou shalt write well. Writing well means presenting your
argument and evidence in a clear, logical, and creative way. An interesting
argument cloaked in impenetrable prose is of no use to anyone. Sources must
be accurately and adequately cited in footnotes, endnotes or in-text notes
using a recognized citation style. The writing style must be formal and
serious. Tables, graphs or other illustrations should be included if they
support your overall thesis. These are only a few guidelines on
how to write research papers. You will no doubt develop your own styles,
rules, and techniques for doing research, making arguments, and presenting
the results of your work. But if you follow the commandments above, you will
be well on your way to writing good research papers—and hopefully learn
something about an important political or social topic along the way. |