by Vera Oko
Just like creative writers, academic writers experience writer’s block—a state where ideas and words refuse to flow, making writing feel impossible. In addition to this challenge, finding time to write and being in the right mood can be difficult.… Read More “Writing Prompts to Overcome Writer’s Block”
Read MoreDear Admissions/Grant Funding/Whatever committee,
My name is Phyllis Rippey and I’m applying for your program in _______________. blah blah blah…
Sincerely,
Phyllis Rippey
Please, for the love of all that is holy, please stop starting letters, statements of purpose, emails, or any other kind of persuasive writing by stating your name.… Read More “Please stop starting letters like this…”
Read MoreBefore we can write social research, we need to read it. When we’re just starting out, reading the large volumes of material we need to become familiar enough with a topic can become really overwhelming sometimes. Here are a few tips I’ve offered to students to help them read more effectively for coursework or for their own research projects.… Read More “Reading Social Research”
Read MoreAlthough there are differences across journals, methodologies, and disciplines for how one is to organize a research paper. In general, a basic research paper in the social sciences will be organized more or less along the following lines:
Sometimes, the review of the literature and the theory get smooshed into the same section and the same goes for discussion and conclusion.… Read More “Typical Research Paper Outline”
Read MoreBelow is a checklist you can use to help guide your writing, whether it’s for a term paper, a thesis, or a peer-reviewed publication. Good papers should be able to answer yes to all of the questions.
Sometimes starting a paper feels like the hardest part, especially you when have a lot of information in your head you just want to get down on paper. To simplify the process, I almost always give my students the following template for writing a basic introduction to any research paper:
Paragraph 1: Contextualize the issue, end with the last sentence giving the research question and/or thesis statement
Paragraph 2: Explain how you’re going to answer this question, give some details about what method you’ll be using
Paragraph 3: Explain why the reader should care.… Read More “A Formula for the Introduction”
Read MoreA “lit review” or a literature review or a review of the literature is the section of a research paper that provides an overview of the state of the research on the topic of the paper. This is where one would explore all the empirical evidence for what “is” with the issue.… Read More “Lit Review vs. Theory Section”
Read MoreThe methods section of a research paper is kind of like the instructions you get with a piece of furniture from IKEA. It tells you how the furniture was or will be put together but not why it works, why we care, and it’s not the thing itself.… Read More “Methods Section Components”
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