Paper Overview Research & Writing Project

Communicate information, thoughts and ideas Investigate the causes of a problem and find
in manner that facilitates efficient & effective a solution backed by evidence
reading and decision-making.

Finding A Topic

List all of your interests and then narrow the list to the top 2 or 3. Start scanning information to
see how your interest relates to the filed you are studying.

Stating Your Topic

I am studying _____________. (Ensure that your topic is as narrow as possible to manage in the time
you have, but not too narrow you can’t find information on it.

Question Your Topic to Find Research Question

Q1: Because I want to find out who/what/when/where/how/why/whether__________
(Here you are adding an indirect question that indicates what you do not know or understand
about a topic. The answer to this question will help you understand the next question, which
is the bigger and more important question you want your readers to understand)

Significance of Question

Q2: In order to help my reader’s understand___________________. (This is the “So What?”

question. Here you add a second indirect question that explains why you asked the first
question.) Conceptual Problem:
Consequence: This is the second thing we don’t understand because we do not
understand the first one. If you think it is important to answer the second question, you
have a consequence of not knowing the first.

Solution/Claim

The answer to your second question is the solution to the problem. This is your main
claim or hypothesis. Although we do not usually know the exact answer when we start,
we do want to have a tentative solution that we are willing to change as we conduct
research, but that will help guide our research.

George Hartner Research & Writing 1

 There are two ways to structure the reasoning of your argument or the reasons
why your claim is true.
1. Reasons in Parallel: In this situation, each reason you give supporting your main
claim stands on its own. To understand this, think about taking one of your
reasons out of the argument, this may weaken your claim, but the other reasons
may be enough to still support your claim.
Solution/Claim

R R R R
E E E E
A A A A
S S S S
O O O O
N N N N

1 4 3 4
Reports of Evidence

2. Reasons in Sequence: In this situation, each reason rests on another reason with
the first reason directly supporting your claim, and the last reason resting on
your evidence. Here, Reason C proves Reason B based on the evidence, Reason B
proves Reason A, and finally Reason A proves Reason 1, which proves the claim.
Most advanced arguments follow this pattern because they layer deeper and
deeper foundations for the claims. This especially important following the chain
of events in a “cause and effect” analysis. However, with this structure, not
effectively arguing one of the lower reasons will cast doubt on the reasons above
it and the main claim.
Solution/Claim
REASON 1
REASON A
REASON B
REASON C
Reports of Evidence

 It is important to note that most papers will contain both structures. Any one of the
parallel reasons could contain a number of reasons in sequence to prove it. When
we are addressing complex or serious issues we usually build our arguments on
reasons in parallel with each them resting on reasons in sequence.
 The following outline serves as an overview of the common structural elements of
papers. Although the reasons are presented in parallel, each one could contain
reasons in sequence. Your paper may contain more or less reasons, and depending
on the type of paper, some elements may be more important than others. For
example, you may have only 2 reasons or 1 reason in sequence. You may not have

George Hartner Research & Writing 2

Paper Overview

to focus on explaining the costs or consequences of your problem because they

may be self-evident. Either way, you should think about each of these elements for
your paper. In addition, if you outline your paper in this format, it will be much
easier to diagnose issues in your structure, arguments, or logic.
 Again, there is no exact outline for a paper, but we know all papers contain
arguments. Therefore, we know that all papers will contain the elements of an
argument: Claim; reason; evidence; a warrant (an assumption, premise or general
principle) underlying the reasoning; and acknowledgement and responses.
 Although it is difficult and time consuming, isolating the elements of your
argument based on the following format will significantly increase your awareness
of your own argument and make it much easier to improve and adjust your
argument based on feedback.

George Hartner Research & Writing 3

 Introduction

Common Ground

Problem

Destabilizing Condition Costs/Consequences

Main Claim/ Solution

Body

Subclaim/ Subclaim/ Subclaim/ Subclaim/

Reason 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 Reason 4

Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence

Supporting Supporting Supporting Supporting
Reason 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 Reason 4

Reason Reason Reason Reason

Connecting Connecting Connecting Connecting
Evidence to Evidence to Evidence to Evidence to
Reason 1 Reason 2 Reason 3 Reason 4

Warrant Warrant Warrant Warrant

1 2 3 4

A&R A&R A&R A&R

1 2 3 4

Conclusion

Restatement of Problem & Solution Implications/Future Research

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