Types

• Compare/contrast papers
• Cause-and-effect papers
• Decriptive papers
• Persuasive/argumentative papers

Prep

• Know your topic
  • Narrow topic
• Find the research
  • Who are the experts? What information is current and how are the data collected? Is the information in the reputable magazines and journals? Does the writer or researcher have any biases?
• Revew the research
  • Free writing, keep writing
  • Brainstorming, list
  • Clustering, bubble map
• Order
  • Time
  • Space
  • Importance

Writing

• Thesis, main idea for paper
• Topic sentence, main idea for each of the supporting paragraphs
• Facts, statistics, results of experiments, and the result of an unbiased observation
• Transition
  • Repeat key words
  • Use synonyms for key words
  • Use pronoun reference
  • Transitional words

Introduction

• Illustration
• Direct quote
• Use a surprising or startling fact
• Open with a general statement and narrow it to the specific thesis
• Begin with a contradiction
• Use a thought-provoking question

Body

• Reader's expection
  • Readers expect familiar information at the beginning of a sentence, make a smooth transition from old information to new information
  • Readers expect the action verb immediately after the subject

Summary

• End with a memorable quote
• End with a call to action
• End with the importance of the topic
• End with a powerful image
• End with general to narrow ideas

Composing a title

• Purpose
  • Directly or indirectly suggests the subject of your paper
  • Maker the reader interested in your paper
• Title types
  • Descriptive
  • Argumentative or persuasive
  • Compare and contrast
  • Cause and effective
  • Creative title

Reference

• Judy Steiner-Williams, Writing a research paper at Lynda
• Recipe for a Quality Scientific Paper: Fulfill Readers! and Reviewers! Expectations, by Yaoqi Zhou