19.7: Planning the Research Paper

Once you have narrowed your topic, developed a research question, constructed a strong working thesis, and identified appropriate sources to support this thesis, you have everything you need to begin writing the paper. Before you can start drafting, though, you need a plan. Sometimes, students feel that planning is an unnecessary step in the writing cycle. Perhaps at some point in the not-so-distant past, they have found themselves paperless at 11:00 p.m., staring down an 11:59 p.m. deadline (it’s always 11:59 p.m., isn’t it?). Perhaps, in a state of Red Bull-induced genius, they beat the odds and managed to compose their magnum opus in the nick of time. Perhaps they even received a high enough grade on said opus that they are now convinced that they do their best work under pressure. While this narrative is normalized, it can also be destructive: in reality, students like the one in the above example succeed in spite of procrastination, not because of it. A student may be able to slide by without planning, but they will rarely excel.

The first step of planning is outlining. Your instructor may give you a set template to use for this step, or they may give you the latitude to use outlining tools you’ve picked up from previous courses. (If you are given a set template, it is wise to follow it, as your instructor is explicitly modeling what they want to see in your paper.) In a basic sense, an outline is a map for your paper: it gives you a clear direction to follow, and it includes specific markers to keep you on track as you draft. You are likely familiar with the five-paragraph essay structure, which features an introductory paragraph, several body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Your outline will include all of these sections, but it will also incorporate more specific elements like your hook, thesis statement, topic sentences, and transitions. You may also be asked to include quotes or paraphrases from your sources to give your instructor a sense of how you will support each of your main ideas. Depending on the kind of research paper you have been asked to write, your outline may take a different form—in an EG 102 class, for example, you may be asked to write a Rogerian or Toulmin-style argument, each of which would structure ideas differently to achieve specific goals. In an EG 101 class, an outline for an informative paper may look different than one for a persuasive paper. This is because the structure of your paper should adapt based on your goal.

Once you have decided on the style of outline best suited to your purpose, you can begin filling it in, beginning with the key elements of the paper, including your thesis statement, topic sentences, and transitions. Many instructors will offer specific feedback on these individual pieces of the paper in advance of asking for a full rough draft since these pieces are so integral to the paper's cohesion. If your thesis statement is unclear, if your topic sentences do not correspond to your thesis statement, or if you do not effectively transition between ideas, readers will have trouble understanding the connections between your points.

Using PEEL to Plan Your Body Paragraphs

As was discussed in Chapter 1, the PEEL structure can be a good checklist for helping you plan your papers. Make sure you have a topic (or even a full topic sentence) to start the paragraph, evidence to convince the reader of your point, explanation to link the evidence to your thesis, and a link as you end the paragraph to help with your transition. In a research paper, evidence will take up at least half if not more of your paragraph and should be based in your sources. In the outline below, observe how much evidence the author plans to use before they start writing their paper. Figuring out which pieces of evidnece to use ahead of time will help the writer save time while they are drafting the paper. 

Example: Research Paper Outline

The following outline corresponds to the paper that occurs at the end of this chapter. Note how Hailey (the student writer) uses full sentences so that she can get specific about their evidence and the points she wants to make about her evidence. She also built topic sentences, explanation, transitions, and a thesis, but not all of these elements are perfect. While looking through this outline, consider what you might improve and how your outlining tactics differ from this student's tactics.

Introduction

A. Open with shocking statistic: 90% of our time is spent indoors (Westervelt).

B. List off general benefits of spending more time outdoors: both mental and physical health problems like stress, anxiety, depression, lack of vitamin D, concentration problems, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, and obesity (Kasland).

C. Thesis: Most people know that being outside is good for them yet not many people do anything about it. Humans were created to be outdoors, so it is only natural that people should thrive when they are outside.

Body paragraph 1: Spending more time outside can decrease stress and anxiety.

A. Evidence 1: “Stress hormones” along with many different “stress” symptoms are known to decrease after relaxing or wandering around the woods (Selhub 51).

B. Evidence 2: Spending even just a quarter of an hour outside or in the forest can reduce “anxiety” in an unmistakable way (Rones 25).

C. Explanation: This evidence is significant because many people suffer from overwhelming anxiety and stress. These sources show that it takes minimal effort to decrease anxiety and stress through spending time outside.

Body Paragraph 2: In addition to helping with stress and anxiety, time spent outdoors can also help ease depression and seasonal affective disorder.

A. Evidence 1: Penckofer et al. shows that the sets of people most in danger of “vitamin D deficiency” are, fascinatingly, identical to the sets of people most at danger of “depression.”

B. Evidence 2: Penckofer et al. states that more than “90%” of the “vitamin D” that a person’s body needs is attained by being outside in the sunshine.

C: Explanation: Since so much of the vitamin D people need comes from the sun, it only makes sense that going outdoors and into the sun should help with illnesses caused partly from lack of vitamin D.

Body Paragraph 3: Spending time outdoors can help with some things that people would not necessarily associate with being outside.

A. Evidence 1: “ADHD” kids have an easier time “focusing” and “concentrating” when they spend time outside in a relaxed, open area (Dineen).

B. Evidence 2: Summarize the study from "Children With..." that shows shows that people who have ADHD can really benefit from spending time outside.

C. Explanation: It is beneficial for any person, especially students, to spend some time outside before or during time that they know they need to concentrate and focus.

Body Paragraph 4: Not only does being outdoors help with all these mental health issues, but it can also benefit people’s physical health.

A. Evidence 1: “There is even some evidence to suggest that exercise may feel easier when performed in the natural environment” (Gladwell et al.).

B. Evidence 2: Use description to synthesize information from other sources and show how the body is affected when outside.

C. Link: All around exercising outside can help tremendously in many different ways.

Conclusion

A. All in all, there are many different reasons that being outdoors that will help a person’s health.

B. Discuss other positive effects: All around exercising outside can help tremendously in many different ways.

C. Show why this issue is significant: If people really understood what all can change if they spend more time outdoors in the sunlight, people would probably spend a considerably more time in the great outdoors.

 

Exercise 20.7: Analyzing a Student Research Paper Outline

1. What is Hailey's thesis? Is it a strong thesis? What elements is it lacking? Revise the thesis according to your observations.
2. Scrutinize the topic sentences of the body paragraphs. Which topic sentences are specific enough and which topic sentences need improving?
3. Not all of the paragraphs include transitions to move from one to the next. Which paragraphs are lacking transitions? Revise the topic sentence for each paragraph to include a transition, or construct a transition for the end of the previous paragraph.
4. Some of the outline reads more like a "note to self" to the writer to help them shape the content of the paper when they are writing. (Example: Summarize the study from "Children With..." that shows that people who have ADHD can really benefit from spending time outside.) Do you think adding this type of content to an outline can be helpful? Why or why not?
5. What are the benefits of noting source material in your outline? How will Hailey's writing process be made easier by having such detailed research notes already incorporated into her outline?
6. Do you think Hailey included enough evidence and analysis in her outline to help guide her writing of the paragraphs? What different kinds of content might you add into a research outline? Do you think you would add more evidence or analysis than Hailey has? Why or why not?
7. Hailey's assignment was to write a research paper discussing a problem and solution. Do you think her paper fits this assignment? Discuss.
8. Look at Hailey's ideas for her introduction and conclusion. Do you think she has some sentences that will be a good start on these paragraphs? If not, which elements should she try to strengthen before she begins to write?