Using an Outline to Craft a Research Paper

The History of Crime and Punishment in the United States 1 A good balance between primary and secondary source evidence in a research paper can be achieved when it is clear that the information utilized from secondary sources is supported by data obtained from primary sources.

In other words, the best balance is that which allows both primary and secondary source evidence to be integrated into the research paper in manner that allows the writer’s perspective to be fleshed out fully but at the same time fully supported by the evidence supplied by other researchers as well as by the evidence that is obtainable through examination of primary source documents.

A research paper writer will know when the right balance has been found when it evidence used to support the writer’s points contains information from both primary and secondary sources. There is no rule that one must rely more upon one than the other, but a good balance will show that the evidence from both types of source material supports the overall argument or point of the research paper writer.

2 Completing an Annotated Bibliography is helpful when I begin drafting a final paper because it gives me an opportunity to think about more sources and identify the reasons they are helpful, what they have to offer, and I why I would reject them or accept them as material to be used in my research paper. It is a way for me to assess the value of my sources and gauge whether or not they are pertinent to what I am trying to accomplish with the final paper.

3 The most difficult part of beginning to draft a paper is just getting started. Sometimes you can be overwhelmed by the material and the amount of information that you have accumulated that you don’t know which way to approach the subject or how to introduce all the various concepts and themes that you sense floating around the subject. That is why I have found that one of the best ways of overcoming this challenge is to write an outline.

An outline can help me get started with drafting a paper by allowing me to jot down some of the ideas I have and arrange them in an order that appears satisfactory. I might make one or two outlines before seeing how the different threads of what I have uncovered all fit together in a suitable manner.

I might test one or two different theses before I settle on one that makes the most sense and is most appropriate given the information I have and the length of the paper I am writing.

The outline can help me get started, too, because it shows me the direction that I need to head in—if I don’t have a sense of where I am going with the paper or what I want to show in the paper, it is very difficult to get started with a draft. Sometimes when I have started a paper without an outline, I.