Writing A Research Paper-A Step by Step Process

The creation of an outline is an invaluable tool in the process of writing a research paper. An outline is a “blueprint” or “plan” for your paper.  It helps you to organize your thoughts and arguments. Furthermore, a good outline can make conducting research and then writing the paper very efficient and less overwhelming by allowing you to better imagine what you will need to write, giving structure to a newly developed paper, and helping you break down large amounts of information into small sections. 

Source:  https://www.austincc.edu/tmthomas/sample%20outline%201.htm

Source: https://www.austincc.edu/tmthomas/sample%20outline%201.htm

"It’s 11 p.m., your paper is due tomorrow, and you’re only about halfway done. You’re typing along and when you realize that, wait…you’re actually not a huge fan of your argument or the supporting examples you’re using. Your options are to haphazardly keep writing or to backtrack and rehash what you’ve already done. Ugh. Unsurprisingly, both options aren’t great."

Do you want to avoid the above scenario?

Create an outline for your essay.

You can think of an essay outline as a roadmap for your paper.  An outline helps you organize and streamline your thoughts ahead of time. Creating an outline before you write your essay makes the writing process much easier, and it helps you to avoid backtracking to see if your paper makes sense.

Source: https://www.easybib.com/guides/writing-guides/parts-of-paper/how-to-write-an-essay-outline/

Reflective Essay Outline

1. Introduction
   1. A really great hook that will have the audience want to keep reading on (an example from the great writer David Sedaris, I always told myself that when I hit fifty I was going to discover opera, not just casually but full force: studying the composers, learning Italian, maybe even buying a cape.
   2. A brief little tease of what the story is going to be about. You'll probably need one to two sentences tops.
2. Body paragraphs
   1. Act I of your story
      1. What happened initially?
      2. Who were the key players?
      3. What obstacle did you have to overcome?
   2. Act II of your story
      1. Describe the obstacle/problem in more detail
      2. What role did the key players have?
   3. Act III of your story
      1. What happened at the end?
      2. Was everything tied up neatly or not?
3. Conclusion
   1. Summary of the events
   2. What lesson did you learn? Or, maybe, what was the lesson you learned much later on in life?

Compare and Contrast Essay Outline

1. Introduction
   1. A brief introduction to the topic and what Point A and Point B are
   2. Your thesis statement (which will contain some sort of equivalence or dissonance between Point A and Point B)
2. Body paragraphs
   1. Topic sentence 1 about Point A
      1. Claim 1 about Point A
      2. Claim 2 about Point A
      3. Claim 3 about Point A
   2. Topic sentence 2 about Point B
      1. Claim 1 about Point B
      2. Claim 2 about Point B
      3. Claim 3 about Point B
   3. Topic sentence 3 that connects Point A and Point B
      1. What is similar between these two points?
      2. What is dissimilar?
      3. What comparisons can be made?
3. Conclusion
   1. What conclusions can we draw about comparing these two points?
   2. Any further research required or suggested for the future?
   3. Is there a third thing that we should be comparing these two points to?

Source: https://www.servicescape.com/blog/4-essay-outline-templates-that-will-simplify-your-writing-process