Instruction
Formal Essay Guidelines – Research Essay
Introduction
During the second learning module of the online Academic Writing 5/6 course, you will focus on how to transform your academic writing from opinions into well-supported arguments, including how to evaluate sources, organize supporting evidence, and avoid plagiarism. For the Research Essay, you will write select a guiding research question to explore that is related to your academic goals or program. This should be a topic that you would like to learn more about, as the research process will be more interesting and motivating then. You will be expected to formulate a research question, conduct research using high-quality, credible academic sources, and document your sources in this essay.
Assignment Objectives
This assignment is designed to accomplish the following objectives: Explore how high-quality, credible sources can enhance your academic writing. Practice using the research process to select, evaluate, and incorporate sources. Practice using the steps of the writing process in focused, progressive activities. Practice using techniques and skills highlighted in the textbook and MyWritingLab in your writing.
Research Essay Guidelines
Structure: Write a 2 - 4 page Research Essay about a guiding research question within your field or program. Research essays aim to answer a guiding research question in a factual, informative manner (so this style generally does not include the author’s opinion or arguments to persuade the audience to the author’s point-of-view). It should be written in third person, meaning no “I” (first person) or “You” (second person). Research essays are research-based academic writing, so they examine a topic based on high-quality, credible academic and professional sources, presenting supporting evidence or quotations, to answer a guiding research question. The essay should 1 intro paragraph, 3 or more supporting paragraphs, and 1 concluding paragraph. Each paragraph should be 4-10 sentences long. Body paragraphs should contain a topic sentence, 3 or more supporting sentences in the form of facts, quotations from reputable sources, and statistics. (Because your body paragraphs are part of an essay, they don’t require concluding sentences.) You must include supporting information from a minimum of three sources in the form of paraphrases, summaries, and/or direct quotes. All researched sources must be documented in MLA style (including in-text citations and a Works Cited List) to avoid plagiarism.
Audience: You are writing this essay to a general academic audience, which includes your instructor and your classmates for this course. (See HINT: Instructor as the Audience on page 5 in your textbook.)
Purpose: Your general purpose is to inform us by answering a specific guiding research question related to your target career or education program. You will determine the specific purpose (see HINT: General and Specific Purpose on page 5) when narrow your topic and write your thesis statement.