Writing a Research Project

19a Refine your writing plans.

You should by now have notes containing facts, opinions, paraphrases, summaries, quotations, and other material; you probably have some images or media to include as well. You may also have ideas about how to synthesize these many pieces of information. And you should have some sense of whether your hypothesis has sufficient support. Now is the time to reconsider your purpose, audience, stance, and working thesis.

What is your central purpose? What other purposes, if any, do you have?
What is your stance toward your topic? Are you an advocate, a critic, a reporter, an observer?
What audience(s) are you addressing?
How much background information or context does your audience need?
What supporting information will your readers find convincing—examples? quotations from authorities? statistics? graphs, charts, or other visuals? data from your field research?
Should your tone be that of a colleague, an expert, a student?
How can you establish common ground with your readers and show them that you have considered points of view other than your own? (See 14e and Chapter 21.)
What is your working thesis trying to establish? Will your audience accept it?

Developing an explicit thesis

Writing out an explicit thesis statement allows you to articulate your major points and to see how well they carry out your purpose and appeal to your audience. Before you begin a full draft, then, try to develop your working thesis into an explicit statement.

David Craig developed the following explicit thesis statement:

For David Craig’s research essay, see Chapter 52.

Instant messaging seems to be a positive force in the development of youth literacy because it promotes regular contact with words, the use of a written medium for communication, and the development of an alternative form of literacy.

Asking Experienced Writers to Review a Thesis

FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS

You might find it helpful to ask one or two classmates who have more experience with the particular type of academic writing to look at your explicit thesis. Ask if the thesis is as direct and clear as it can be, and revise accordingly.

Testing your thesis

Although writing out an explicit thesis will often confirm your research, you may find that your hypothesis is invalid, inadequately supported, or insufficiently focused. In such cases, you need to rethink your original research question and perhaps do further research. To test your thesis, consider the following questions:

How can you state your thesis more precisely or more clearly (7b)? Should the wording be more specific?
In what ways will your thesis interest your audience? What can you do to increase that interest?
Will your thesis be manageable, given your limits of time and knowledge? If not, what can you do to make it more manageable?
What evidence from your research supports each aspect of your thesis? What additional evidence do you need?

Considering design

As you move toward producing a draft, take some time to think about how you want your research essay or project to look. What font size will you use? Should you use color? Do you plan to insert text boxes, visuals, or media files? Will you need headings and subheadings? (See Chapter 9.)