A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, Ninth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2018
Create a plan that meets your readers’ needs
Planning a first draft
Research and writing
Some fields stipulate the plan of a paper. In the experimental sciences, for example, readers expect papers to follow an organization like this:
Introduction—Methods and Materials—Results—Discussion—Conclusion
If your paper must follow a conventional plan, find a model in a secondary source or ask your mentor, teacher, or advisor for guidance. In most fields, however, you have to create a plan of your own, but that plan must make sense to your readers. To create one, start with your storyboard or outline.
6.2.1 Convert Your Storyboard into an Outline
If you prefer to work from an outline, you can turn your storyboard into one:
✵ ▪ Start with a sentence numbered I that states your claim.
✵ ▪ Add complete sentences under it numbered II, III, . . . , each of which states a reason supporting your claim.
✵ ▪ Under each reason, use capital letters to list sentences summarizing your evidence; then list by numbers the evidence itself. For example (the data are invented for the illustration):
1. I. Introduction: Educational benefits of writing on laptops are uncertain.
2. II. Different uses have different effects.
1. A. All uses increase number of words produced.
1. 1. Study II.A.1: 950 vs. 780
2. 2. Study II.A.2: 1,103 vs. 922
2. B. Study II.B: Using laptops encourages writer’s block.
3. III. Studies show limited benefit on revision.
1. A. Study III.A: Writers using laptops are more wordy.
1. 1. Average of 2.3 more words per sentence
2. 2. Average of 20% more words per essay
2. B. Study III.B: Writers need hard copy to revise effectively.
1. 1. 22% fewer typos when done on hard copy vs. computer screen
2. 2. 2.26% fewer spelling errors
4. IV. Conclusion: Disadvantages of laptops may outweigh advantages.
A sparer outline is just phrases, with no formal layers of I, A, 1, and so on.
✵ Introduction: Benefits uncertain
✵ Different uses / different effects
o More words
o Writer’s block
✵ Revision studies
o Study 1 longer sentences
o Study 2 longer essays
o Study 3 hardcopy better
✵ Conclusion: Disadvantages outweigh advantages
When you start a project, a spare outline may be the best you can do, and for a short project it may be all you need, so long as you know the point of each item. But an outline of complete sentences is usually more useful. More useful yet is a storyboard, especially for a long project.
6.2.2 Sketch a Working Introduction
Writers are often advised to write their introduction last, but most of us need a working introduction to start us on the right track. Expect to write your introduction twice, first a sketch for yourself and later a final one for your readers. That final introduction will usually have four parts (see chapter 9), so you might as well sketch your working introduction to anticipate them.
1. 1. At the top of the first page of your storyboard, sketch a brief summary of only the key points in only those sources most relevant to your argument. Include only the sources that you intend to challenge, modify, or expand on. Then order those sources in a way that is useful to your readers: chronologically, by quality, significance, point of view, or the like. Don’t just follow the order in which you happened to read them or record them in your notes.
2. 2. Rephrase your research question as a statement about a flaw or gap that you see in your sources:
Why is the Alamo story so important in the United States’ national mythology?
→ Few of these historians, however, have explained why the Alamo story has become so important in the United States’ national mythology.
3. 3. If you can, sketch an answer to So what? What larger issue will your readers not understand if you don’t answer your question? You may be only guessing, but try to find some answer.
If we understood how such stories become national legends, we would better understand the United States’ national values, perhaps even what makes the American character distinct.
If you can’t think of any answer, skip it; we return to it in chapter 10.
4. 4. State the answer to your question as your claim, or promise an answer in a launching point. You have two choices here:
o ▪ State your claim at the end of your introduction to frame what follows and again near the beginning of your conclusion.
o ▪ State it only in your conclusion, as a climax to your reasoning.
This is a crucial choice, because it creates your social contract with your readers (see 1.2). If you state your main claim toward the end of your introduction, you put your readers in charge: they know what’s coming, and they can decide to read on—or not. On the other hand, if you wait until your conclusion to state your main claim, you create a more controlling relationship: you ask them to trust that they’ll find your claim—when you eventually reveal it—worth the investment of their time. Most readers prefer to see your main claim at the end of your introduction, because that lets them read what follows faster, understand it better, and remember it longer. In your storyboard, put that claim at the bottom of your introduction page. Then restate it in different words at the top of your storyboard’s conclusion page. If you can, make this concluding claim more specific than the one in the introduction.
Some new researchers fear that if they reveal their main point too early, readers will be “bored” and stop reading. Others worry about repeating themselves. Both fears are baseless. If you ask an interesting question, readers will want to see how well you can answer it, and knowing where your argument is going will help your readers follow it.
But if you do decide to announce your claim only in your conclusion, you still need a sentence at the end of your introduction that launches your reader into the body of your paper. That sentence should include the key terms that will run through your paper (see 6.2.3). You’ll be better prepared to write that sentence after you draft your final introduction, so when planning, just put your main claim at the bottom of your storyboard’s introduction page (you can move it later).
Finally, some writers add a “road map” at the end of their introduction:
In part 1, I discuss the issue of . . . Part 2 addresses . . . Part 3 examines . . .
Road maps are common in the social sciences, but many in the humanities find them clumsy. You can add a road map to your storyboard to guide your drafting, then cut it from your final draft. If you keep it, make it short.
6.2.3 Identify Key Concepts That Will Run through Your Paper
For your paper to seem coherent, readers must see a few key concepts running through all its parts. But readers won’t recognize those repeated concepts if you refer to them in many different words. Readers need to see specific terms that repeatedly refer to those concepts, not every time you mention them but often enough that readers can’t miss them. You might find them among the terms you used to categorize your notes, but they must include keywords from the sentences stating your problem and main point. On the introduction page, circle four or five words or phrases that express those concepts. Ignore words that name your general topic; focus on those relevant to your specific question:
gender, education level, major, choice of profession, wage gap
If you find few words or phrases that can serve as key terms, your topic and point might be too general (review 5.4.1).
You can also use this procedure to identify concepts that distinguish your sections from each other. Look at the reason you stated at the top of each reason page, and circle its important words. Some of those words should be related to the words circled in the introduction and conclusion, but others will be specific to that section. When you draft, you can use these lists of key terms to keep yourself on track and to recognize when you might be saying something new (see 7.3).
6.2.4 Use Key Terms to Create Subheads That Uniquely Identify Each Section
Even if papers in your field don’t use subheads (see A.2.2.4 in the appendix), we recommend that you use them in your drafts. Create them out of your key terms. If you cannot find key terms that distinguish a section, consider its contribution to the whole: if little differentiates that section from others, readers may find it repetitive or irrelevant.
If your field avoids subheads, use them to keep yourself on track, and delete them from your last draft.
6.2.5 Order Your Paper
When you assembled your argument, you may not have put your reasons in any particular order (one benefit of a storyboard). But when you plan a draft, you must impose some order on them. That is not easy, especially when you’re writing on a new topic in a new field.
The best order is the one that best meets your readers’ needs. When you’re not sure how to order your reasons, consider the following options.
You can organize your paper according to your subject matter:
✵ ▪ Chronological. This is the simplest: earlier-to-later or cause-to-effect.
✵ ▪ Part by part. If you can break your topic into its constituent parts, you can deal with each in turn, but you must still order those parts in some way that helps readers understand them: by their functional relationships, hierarchy, or the like.
✵ ▪ Comparison and contrast. Choose this form if you are comparing two or more entities, concepts, or objects. You have two options, and one is usually better than the other. If you were comparing Hopi masks to Inuit masks, you might decide to devote the first half of your paper to the former and the second half to the latter. But this kind of organization often results in a pair of disconnected summaries. Instead, try to treat the objects of comparison together, aligning parallel aspects as you go. In our example, you might write first about the masks’ designs, then about the stages of their evolution, then about their use of symbolism, and so on.
You can also organize your paper to accommodate your readers’ prior knowledge and to facilitate their efforts to grasp your argument:
✵ ▪ Short to long, simple to complex. Most readers prefer to deal with less complex issues before they work through more complex ones.
✵ ▪ More familiar to less familiar. Most readers prefer to read what they know about before they read what they don’t.
✵ ▪ Less contestable to more contestable. Most readers move more easily from what they agree with to what they don’t.
✵ ▪ Less important to more important (or vice versa). Readers prefer to read more important reasons first, but those reasons may have more impact when they come last.
✵ ▪ Earlier understanding as a basis for later understanding. Readers may have to understand some events, principles, definitions, and so on before they understand another thing.
Often these principles cooperate: what readers agree with and easily understand might also be short and familiar. But these principles may also conflict: readers might reject most quickly reasons that are most important. Whatever your order, it must reflect your readers’ needs, not the order that the material seems to impose on itself (such as chronology), least of all the order in which those reasons occurred to you.
6.2.6 Make Your Order Clear with Transitional Words
Your readers must be able to recognize the order you choose. In your storyboard, start each page of reasons with words that make the principle of order clear: First, Second, Later, Finally, More important, A more complex issue is . . . , As a result. Don’t worry if these words feel awkwardly obvious. At this point, they’re more for your benefit than for your readers’. You can revise or even delete the clumsy ones from your final draft.
6.2.7 Sketch a Brief Introduction to Each Section and Subsection
Just as your whole paper needs an introduction that frames what follows, so does each of its sections. If a section is only a page or two, you need just a short paragraph; for a section several pages long, you might need to sketch in two or more paragraphs. This introduction should announce the key terms that are special to the section, ideally in a sentence at its end expressing the section’s point, which might be a reason, a response to a different point of view, or a warrant you must explain.
6.2.8 For Each Section, Sketch Evidence, Acknowledgments, Warrants, and Summaries
In their relevant sections, sketch out the parts of your argument. Remember that many of those parts will themselves make points that must be supported by smaller subarguments.
6.2.8.1 EVIDENCE. Most sections consist primarily of evidence supporting reasons. Sketch the evidence after the reason it supports. If you have different kinds of evidence supporting the same reason, group and order them in a way that will make sense to your readers.
6.2.8.2 EXPLANATIONS OF EVIDENCE. You may have to explain your evidence—where it came from, why it’s reliable, exactly how it supports a reason. Usually these explanations follow the evidence, but you can sketch them before if that seems more logical.
6.2.8.3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND RESPONSES. Imagine what readers might object to in your argument and sketch responses. Responses are typically subarguments with at least a claim and reasons, often including evidence and even another response to an imagined objection to your response.
6.2.8.4 WARRANTS. If you think you need a warrant to justify the relevance of a reason, develop it before you state the reason. (If you’re using a warrant only for emphasis, put it after the reason.) If you think readers will question the truth of the warrant, sketch a subargument to support it. If readers might think that your reason or claim isn’t a valid instance of the warrant, sketch a subargument showing that it is.
6.2.8.5 SUMMARIES. If your paper is long and “fact heavy” with dates, names, events, or numbers, you might end each major section by briefly summarizing the progress of your argument. What have you established in that section? How does your argument shape up so far? If in your final draft those summaries seem clumsy, cut them.
Writers in different fields may arrange these elements in slightly different ways, but the elements themselves and their principles of organization are the same in every field and profession. What’s crucial in every paper, regardless of field, is that you must order the parts of your argument not merely to reflect your own thinking but to help your readers understand it.
6.2.9 Sketch a Working Conclusion
You should have stated your concluding claim at the top of the conclusion page of your storyboard. If you can add to the significance of that claim (another answer to So what?), sketch it after the claim (see 10.2 for more on conclusions).