Slides: Organizing Papers
Organizing Papers
•Every
academic discipline has different guidelines for organizing an academic paper.
•
•The
student should always check with university or college standards about the
basic layout for the paper to hand.
•
•Accordingly,
the student should check style guides (MLA, APA, Turabian, etc.) for further
information about organizing an academic paper.
Slide 2
Most traditional academic papers adhere to the following basic format:
Abstracts
•Abstracts
are not always required, but most academic papers have one and writers should
know how to produce a useful abstract. An abstract should be a very short,
clear and concise summation of the entire paper. An abstract should provide
enough of a preview that a typical reader will know whether or not they wish to
read the paper. It should reveal both the purpose and conclusions of the paper
(see handout on Abstracts).
Introduction
•Most
academic introductions follow an ‘inverted pyramid’ structure: they start broad
and narrow down to a specific thesis or research question. The introduction
should reveal some broad knowledge of the overall topic and quickly focus on
the major point of the paper.
Methodology Section
•In
papers that rely on secondary research, this section would provide the
necessary background or history for understanding the discussion to come. A
Review-of-Literature more specifically synthesizes information from a variety
of significant sources related to the major point of the paper.
•In
papers that rely on primary research, the Methodology section provides a
detailed description of the experiment design.
•In
either case, this section justifies the research done by either showing that
the writer has done their homework and/or has a clear understanding of research
methods.
•This
section is only included in papers that rely on primary research. This section
catalogues the results of the experiment. The results should be presented in a
clear and unbiased way.
Slide 3
Most traditional academic papers adhere to the following basic format:
Argument, Critique, or Discussion
•This
section is the “heart” of the paper – where the writer finally makes the major
point or claim the previous sections have led the reader to expect. This
section will usually be the lengthiest section of the paper and should include
a thorough and well-supported argument, critique or discussion.
Conclusion
•In
papers that rely on primary research, the discussion should posit an
interpretation of the results that is reasonable and precise.
•The
conclusion should reinforce the major claims or interpretation in a way that is
not mere summary. The writer should try to indicate the significance of the
major claim/interpretation beyond the scope of the paper but within the
parameters of the field. The writer might also present complications the study
illustrates or suggest further research the study indicates is necessary.
Works Cited or References
* CLI academic papers require APA Citation Format
Slide 4
This organizational design is meant as a general guideline across disciplines, to get CLI students started writing a traditional academic paper.
CLI academic papers require
APA Citation Format Style
(American Psychological Association Citation Format Style)
There are plenty of free resources available to learn to read and write APA Citation Format Style:
•Public
libraries around the world
•School
& University libraries around the world
Остання зміна: пʼятниця 14 серпня 2020 12:49 PM