March 26, 2018

Thonney Ch. 6
Outlines
Introductions
Writing with Authority
• Identify the gap and respond to it
– Answer the “so what” question: explain why the topic you discuss matters
or how your discussion will be different from that of others
– Justifies the value of your contribution to the conversation

• Introduce and announce the purpose of your paper

– Framing: A way of preparing readers for what’s to come by announcing
a paper’s topics and general organization early in the paper.
– Readers read faster and remember better what they have read.

• Qualify claims and anticipate objections

– Avoid using words like always or never
– Use qualifiers like likely, may, often, tend to, prone to, etc.
– Avoid phrases like I believe, I think, I feel
• Prepare the reader for what’s to come
– Write a title for your paper that goes beyond the assignment name and
the topic of your writing.
– Example: Conceptualizing and Measuring Historical Trauma
among American Indian People
– Write an introduction that forecasts your paper
– Frame your thesis statement
– Clearly state your main ideas
– Use overviews, topic sentences, and headings
– Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that provides an
overview of the main idea of the paragraph.
– Transition between ideas.
– Use signaling to guide readers through your paper.

• Use specialized vocabulary and academic phrasing

– Use technical words that are appropriate to your discipline
– Use common academic phrases such as in order to, according to, in this
paper, in the case of, studies have shown that
– Use reformulation markers such as i.e., in other words, that is, namely, in
particular, particularly, specifically to restate ideas in a way that clarifies
or makes it more specific.
To first person or not to first person?
• The use of first-person point of view varies by discipline and the
genre of what you are writing, so be aware of how your
discipline views the use of it.
• This also varies from instructor to instructor.
• For all of these reasons, I recommend using it sparingly or not at
all since it can make the tone of your paper seem more casual
and less academic.
• However, in certain situations, it can be used to establish your
authority as a writer by showing that you formed hypotheses,
collected data, and reached conclusions.
• If you are discussing your specific experience or something that
you personally conducted (a survey, experiment, etc.), then it
would be strange not to use first-person.
Homework and Reminders
• For Wednesday, March 28:
– Complete a formal outline of your
paper.
– Submit your work by 11:59 p.m. via
the Research Paper Formal Outline
link under the Homework tab on the
course website.
• For Friday, March 30:
– Write a draft of your introduction
that includes a revised thesis
statement.
– Submit your work by 11:59 p.m. via
the Research Paper Introduction link
under the Homework tab on the
course website.
• These are both completion grades,
so if your outline or introduction is
incomplete or not properly
formatted, you will not receive
credit.
• For Monday, April 2:
– Peer review: Bring a draft of your
research paper that is a minimum of
5 pages of completed writing.
– If you do not have a minimum of 5
full pages, you will not be allowed to
participate in peer review and you
will be counted absent.
• For Wednesday, April 4:
– Peer review: Bring a draft of your
research paper that is a minimum of
9 pages of completed writing.
– If you do not have a minimum of 9
full pages, you will not be allowed to
participate in peer review and you
will be counted absent.