Planning Your Paper

Brainstorming

Instead of obsessing about that first, perfect sentence, start a little more generally. Get your ideas down on paper, without worrying about putting them into complete sentences or paragraphs. Write down whatever comes to mind, no matter how silly or unrelated it seems at first. Pretty soon, you’ll find that one thought leads to another and another, and before you know it, you’ll have a lot of ideas about the subject of your paper.

For example, let’s say you’ve been given an assignment to write a research paper on the Egyptians. Even without doing any research, we all probably have some ideas about the Egyptians, right? So if we were brainstorming about specific topics relevant to the Egyptians, we might come up with the following things just off the top of our heads: pyramids, Africa, the Nile river, pharaohs, slaves, Moses, papyrus, cats, afterlife.

Now we have several ideas about the Egyptians to look at a little more deeply. Next, we might brainstorm about some of those items a little more, using the same questions that reporters use when they’re researching stories. Those questions are who, what, when, where, how, and why.

You might begin by stating the question “who are the Egyptians?” That gives you a specific question to research, and it might be a good place to begin your paper on the Egyptians. Research would tell you that Egyptian society was centered around the Nile river, and it might tell you where they came from originally if they migrated from another land or country. You would discover what made them unique or memorable. Your reading would reveal when the Egyptians were most influential, how their empire rose and/or fell, and why. Under how you might discover how they mummified their dead or built their pyramids. For each subtopic, these questions will help you dig a little deeper and discover more about the Egyptians.

After thinking a little more about what you already know or after doing a little preliminary research, you probably will decide which areas seem the most important or revealing about the Egyptians, and narrow your topics down to those areas. Through brainstorming, you will discover specific areas to focus on, and you can divide your main subject into several subtopics to research further.

Preliminary Outline

Once you’ve brainstormed some general areas to focus on, the next step is to organize your thoughts by making an outline. An outline will help you decide on a preliminary structure of your paper and will give you definite areas to research. Using the ideas that we brainstormed on the Egyptians, we might create a preliminary outline. (Click here for example of preliminary outline)

Not only have we clearly defined areas to research, we have a structure that we can follow (or change) as we begin to find out more about the Egyptians and their lifestyle. These techniques--brainstorming and outlining--work just as well if you are writing another kind of paper--a book report, for example, or an essay. In those cases, use these techniques to write down your reactions to the book or topic, different issues that you want to comment on, or take a compare/contrast approach, using your brainstorming techniques to write down the pros and cons of any issue.

Research and Note Taking

Finding Sources

If you are writing a paper that requires you to do research, begin with a general resource such as an encyclopedia. (See the resources links below for helpful research web sites.) An encyclopedia will give you a general overview of the topic and will help you to identify specific details or areas that interest you particularly.

But don’t stop there! Once you’ve gotten a basic understanding of the broad issue, dig a little deeper by finding books and Internet sites that relate to your topic. Your school librarian can help you come up with relevant sources.

Evaluating Sources

Don’t assume that every source you find was written by an expert--make sure you evaluate your sources by asking some basic questions:

Who is the author? Is there any information about the author, such as a brief biography, a list of college degrees or achievements, or a list of other papers or books the author has written on the subject? Does the author seem to be knowledgeable or an expert in the field?

Who is the publisher or whose web site is it? Are they a company or organization that you’ve heard of? Does it seem that they are experts or known for publishing material relevant to your topic? (For example, we would assume that articles on National Geographic’s web site or in the magazine had been written by experts and that all the facts had been checked and rechecked. We shouldn’t make the same assumption if we’ve never heard of the organization or individual who produced the material we have found, unless they offer some kind of proof that they are credible (i.e., believable).

Take some information with a grain of salt. That means don’t believe everything you read! Be aware that some organizations and individuals have an agenda--a way of thinking that they are trying to promote--and the information they choose to present may leave out other facts or ideas that go against that agenda. For example, if you are doing a report on gun control, the National Rifle Association web site will only give you information and opinions that are aimed to convince you that there is no need for the government to make more laws about guns. On the other hand, a web site that was created by people who wanted the government to restrict guns would give arguments and facts that support their position, such as including statistics on the number of people killed with guns every year.

Try to find resources that offer different opinions. This way, you’ll get more than one viewpoint about a topic, and you will get a more balanced view. This allows you to present information using a compare and contrast format.

If you’re unsure about the credibility of a resource, check the information by finding another resource (site, book, or article) that provides similar information.

Note Taking Techniques

As discussed in the section on plagiarism, use a combination of paraphrasing (putting things into your own words) and quotations when taking notes. Make sure you write down the most important facts--you don’t want to write down everything the author has written, after all! This is where your preliminary outline comes it handy, because it helps you to identify the specific information you need for your report.

Don’t take notes haphazardly, though, or you’ll end up spending a lot of time sifting through scraps and piles of paper looking for information on the different areas that you’ve researched. Instead, practice note taking techniques that help to keep your information organized!

Using note cards

Use the headings that you’ve used in your preliminary outline at the top of the note card each time you write down information having to do with that particular subtopic. For example, if you are taking notes on the pharaohs of Egypt, write “The People--Pharaohs” at the top of the card.

Try to put only a few relevant facts on each note card (and write down any reactions you have to the information at the same time--it will help you in tying things together later).

Organize your note cards according to topics, making a pile for each topic.

Use your preliminary outline to put your piles in order.

Using highlighters

If you have printed information off of the Internet, an easy way to organize the information according to topic is to use a different color highlighter to identify information. You can also circle paragraphs and write the topic in the margin. Then, simply copy the information onto note cards, again writing the topic at the top of each note card, or use scissors to cut the documents into pieces and tape the text onto the note cards.

Revising (and Expanding) the Outline

Now that you have researched your topic and organized your notes, take another look at your preliminary outline. Does the information you’ve gathered still match the topics in the outline? Have you discovered other areas of interest that are not included in your outline? This is not unusual--once we begin to research and learn about a topic, we discover many topics and facts that we did not know when we began.

Now it’s time to revise your outline and add to it. First, add any additional topics that you’ve discovered in your research. In most cases, it will probably fit under a general topic you have already identified (for example, if you found interesting information about the Egyptian’s use of irrigation, it would fit under the Nile River and Agricultural topics). Next, delete any topics that are no longer relevant or for which you found very little information. Now you can use your notes to answer all of the questions you raised during your brainstorming and outlining activities.

Now you have an outline that you can use as a guide in writing your paper! Using your outline and your organized note cards, you can begin to write your paper. Make sure you don’t just list dry facts one after the other--use your notes to provide the factual information and your creativity and original thinking to comment on what you have learned and give your opinions!

Preliminary Outline

I. Origins

A. Where Did the Egyptians Come From?
B. What Kind of Society Did They Have Originally?

1. Hunter/Gatherer?
2. Agricultural?

C. Rise to Power

1. When Did They First Become Powerful/Influential?
2. What Changes Did Society Go Through, and Why?

II. The Nile River

A. What Role Did the Nile Play in Egyptian Life/Society?

1. Travel
2. Commerce and Trade

III. Religion and Beliefs

A. The Afterlife

1. The Gods and Goddesses
2. Beliefs about Death

(a) Mummification

B. The Pyramids

1. Purpose?
2. How Were They Built?

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