How Long Should An Introduction Be for a Research Paper Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

Make sure you state your thesis argument , if the paper requires one, in the first paragraph. If it is a research paper only, highlight the person/place/event in such a way that outlines who they were in the broader sense. You 039 d obviously state that he was a president and then talk briefly about the bigger things that he did while in office, the successes and blunders.

End the introduction with some sort of claim that he was a good or bad president, for instance. The introduction of an essay is usually the first paragraph, and it should do what its name says it will do introduce the topic of the essay. Even the shortest essay should include an introduction that will serve as a guide to show readers what to expect while reading the essay. Megan ritchie has been a writer for more than 10 years, and has been published in a number of journals and newspapers, including the daily targum rutgers university apos s daily newspaper and the philadelphia inquirer.

Apa Style Psychology Essay

Some people lead simple lives, surrounded by simple pleasures and family and friends, and others may always be on the lookout for the next fancy gadget that promises to make their lives easier and more enjoyable. You should convince your audience that it should care about what you have to say, though attention to relevance and significance is part of constructing a successful thesis. If your opening anecdote is a long one, you don apos t have to finish it in the introduction just essays for lamb to the slaughter introduce enough of it to get the reader apos s attention and establish the significance of your thesis. If your instructor requires you to write an abstract, your paper will begin on the page after the abstract otherwise, begin on the page following the title page. Use a serif typeface, such as times new roman, and set your word processing program to double space the lines. Center your title on the page don't use boldface type or underlining with the title. On the next line, indent an inch using the tab key and begin your introduction paragraph.

Phd Dissertation Semantic Web

A good introduction makes an intriguing assertion that your paper will then address. For example, you could write, psychologists have recently discovered hitherto unforeseen effects of classical music on the brain of a child under three. Give a quick summary of relevant background: smith 1978 studied toddlers raised backstage at rock concerts and concluded that their language development was accelerated six months beyond that of his control group. Jones 1997 studied toddlers in households where music was not allowed and found that their language development was significantly delayed. This suggests a positive correlation between exposure to music and early language learning. in the last sentence of your introduction, state your thesis: this paper compares the work of smith and jones in an attempt to isolate the connection between music and language development in the early years and suggest questions in need of further study.

your thesis encapsulates your entire paper into a single sentence the ideas you summarize in the earlier part of your introduction should flow logically to this statement of the purpose of your work. The conclusion of an apa paper is the final paragraph, where you restate your thesis and tie together the ideas that support it that you have referenced, spelled out and argued for in earlier paragraphs. Don't just restate the information, but put it into logical order as it should be in the body of your paper like a series of steps the reader can climb, illustrating the connections between each piece that reinforce your thesis. All papers, however, should be double spaced with 1 to 1.5 margins, typed on a computer.

Research is when you should find information on your topic in a variety of academically valid sources, use it as part of your argument, and refer to it following the forms usual in academic writing. Writing a research paper is a challenging task, and i have broken it into several parts: choosing a topic, getting information, making an outline, writing a draft, revising the draft, and citing sources. Many of you have already learned how to do a research paper by taking english composition. I strongly urge you to get a college level style book, such as turabian, a manual for writers, strunk and white, elements of style, or hacker, a writer's reference. no one, myself included, can remember all the rules about citing sources and other such points of academic style.

Nevertheless, they are important, and i expect you to write a polished academic paper. Ten pages may seem like a lot, but by the time you introduce the topic and your thesis, provide examples that support your thesis, and develop your argument, you will easily fill the pages. Finally, choose a topic that you can do with the resources of the internet and the fsu libraries. As a rule of thumb, you should look for at least ten 10 sources, including primary sources: sources from the time and place you are studying secondary sources: scholarly research by experts in the field monographs specialized books articles in scholarly journals scholarly internet sites e.g. Those by university professors, not in general by university students tertiary sources: general information in condensed or summary form textbooks encyclopedia articles general interest web sites popular magazine or newspaper articles some of these types of source may overlap. Although tertiary sources are listed last, you should probably consult them first.

This will give you a sense of the topic and will help you figure out what specialized topic you want to pursue. Tertiary sources also usually contain bibliographies that will help you identify further sources. If you are using a computer on the fsu campus, you have access to britannica online, a great place to begin to learn about your topic. Tertiary sources are a good place to start, but no college level research paper should be based primarily on tertiary sources. after you have an idea of what you want to study and some background information, you need to find primary and secondary sources on your topic. Actually, nowadays you don't have to go to the library, because most of the library's resources are now available over the internet.

The chesnutt library has its entire catalog and a host of other resources available from its website. The web catalog allows several different kinds of search: keyword, subject, author, title, etc. Bartholomew's book the formation of science in japan is in the library, you could search under author: bartholomew, james r.

If you want to find all books on technology in the united states, search under keyword: technology united states. If you really need a book that is not in the library, the librarians may be able to get it for you from interlibrary loan. Hint: when searching the web catalog, search all three libraries of the carolina coastal consortium fsu, unc pembroke, unc wilmington at once. If the book is available at one of the other libraries, you can get it through interlibrary loan in a matter of days.

You can access a number of periodicals and periodical indexes through the chesnutt library website. Go to the e databases page and click on j to go to jstor, the fastest way to find scholarly articles. Jstor has the complete contents of most major historical journals in the united states, from their beginning to about three five years ago.