Scheduling Steps in Research Writing

Scheduling steps in research writing

(See the pages in parentheses for discussion of the steps.)

Complete

by:

__________ 1. Setting a schedule and beginning a research journal (previous page)

__________ 2. Finding a researchable subject and question (below)

__________ 3. Developing a research strategy (p. 564)

__________ 4. Finding sources, both print and electronic (p. 571), and making a working

bibliography (p. 567)

__________ 5. Evaluating and synthesizing sources (pp. 599, 610)

__________ 6. Mining and interacting with sources (p. 613), often using summary,

paraphrase, and direct quotation (p. 617)

__________ 7. Taking steps to avoid plagiarism (p. 629)

__________ 8. Developing a thesis statement (p. 639)

__________ 9. Creating a structure (p. 640)

__________ 10. Drafting the paper (p. 643), integrating summaries, paraphrases, and

direct quotations into your ideas (p. 623)

__________ 11. Revising and editing the paper (p. 645)

__________ 12. Citing sources in your text (p. 637)

__________ 13. Preparing the list of works cited (p. 637)

__________ 14. Preparing and proofreading the final manuscript (p. 646)

__________ Final paper due

Each segment marked off by a horizontal line will occupy roughly one fourth of the total time. The most unpredictable segments are the first two, so get started early enough to accommodate the unexpected.

Use a duplicate of this schedule to plan and time the specific steps of each research project you work on.