Essay Guidelines: Midterm

Advanced 1A (2018-2), September 21, 2018

1 INTRODUCING AND FOCUSING THE STUDY

“The beginning of a study […] is the most important part of a research project. If the
purpose of the study is unclear, if the research questions are vague, and if the research
problem or issue is not clearly identified, then a reader has difficulty following the remainder
of the study.”1

1.1 PARAGRAPH: RESEARCH PURPOSE STATEMENT

The job of the first paragraph is to present your research purpose statement—your
research question in indirect form. For example, if your research question is Which criteria
affect long-term storage of information?, a possible research purpose statement would be I
will describe the criteria that affect long-term storage of information. Don’t be afraid to use the
first person; academic English writing is all about using clear subjects and taking responsibility
for your claims.

However, your research purpose statement shouldn’t come first. Instead, start by
“[advancing] the topic or general subject matter of the research study by creating reader
interest in a few beginning sentences […]. A good first sentence—called a narrative hook in
literature composition—would create reader interest through the use of stating timely topics,
advancing a key controversy, using numbers, or citing a leading study. We suggest staying
away from quotes in the first sentence […].” 2 A good rule of thumb is to start with a general
sentence, and then write more specific, narrowing-down sentences. Add your research
purpose statement to the end of your paragraph.

1.2 PARAGRAPH: GENERAL DEFINITION (OPTIONAL)

If your research question revolves around a concept of difficult definition (e.g. sensory
register), explain it briefly in your second paragraph, just so that the reader won’t feel lost
moving forward. “This definition is a tentative, preliminary definition that the research intends
to use at the outset of the study.”3

1.3 PARAGRAPH: IMPORTANCE FOR AUDIENCES

Create meaning for the readers by arguing why your essay is important. Why should
your readers care about your research? “Consider different types of audiences and point out,
for each one, the ways they will benefit from the study. These audiences could be other
researchers, policy makers, practitioners in the field, or students.”3

1
Creswell, J., & Poth, C. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage,
p.127.
2
Ibid., 130.
3
Ibid., 134.
1.4 PARAGRAPH(S): SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Your research theme most likely belongs to a larger body of knowledge. There might
be concepts your reader needs to understand before appreciating your research question fully.
This section, the last in the introduction, is supposed to equip your reader with the necessary
background knowledge to understand your research.

Don’t write in detail here. A general overview is fine. For example, if your research
question is How can students correctly identify sources of comprehensible input?, you should
describe the origins of comprehensible input, citing Krashen’s theory in general terms. A good
summary would provide context into Krashen (he’s an accomplished researcher and an
authority on language acquisition) and offer an overview of his theory (the comprehension
hypothesis, which is built upon five smaller hypotheses). A bad summary would attempt to
describe each of these five smaller hypotheses.

Remember to encode just one main idea in each paragraph. If your research draws
from different bodies of knowledge, you’ll need a paragraph to talk about each one.

2 ANSWERING YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION

A good introduction will have accomplished several features. The readers will (a) know
exactly what your essay is about (research purpose statement); (b) be interested about it
(importance for audiences); and (c) know enough to understand the answer to your research
question (summary of background knowledge). Now it’s time to answer the research
question.

You should develop your discussion of the research question logically—creating a

sequence of events that is easy for the reader to follow. You will use several paragraphs to do
this, but remember to encode just one main idea in each paragraph.

Let’s consider the example research question from before (Which criteria affect long-
term storage of information?). A possible paragraph structure would be as follows:

 Present the criterium of meaning. Offer some concrete examples to make sure the
reader understand what meaning looks like in this context.
 Discuss the evidence for meaning being a criterium.
 Present the criterium of sense. Offer some concrete examples to make sure the reader
understand what sense looks like in this context.
 Discuss the evidence for sense being a criterium.
 Explain that having one of the criteria is better than having none. Offer some concrete
examples (information that has meaning but no sense; information that has sense but
no meaning).
 Explain how satisfying both criteria yields the highest chance of long-term storage.

Another possible structure, with fewer paragraphs would be as follows:

 Present the criterium of meaning.

 Present the criterium of sense.
 Offer concrete examples (only meaning; only sense; one but not the other).
 Explain how satisfying both criteria yields the highest chance of long-term storage.
 The paragraph structure can be a set of procedural steps to a solution; a chain of
cause-and-effect relationships that produce a desirable outcome; a series of arguments that
lead to a logical conclusion; a cartesian breakdown of a complex problem, from simpler to
more involved concepts; a chronological reconstruction of a collection of events—or many
others. It all depends on your research question and how you chose to answer it.

There are many right ways to structure the paragraphs—and many wrong ones too.
Regardless of how you decide to structure the answer, it is imperative that you do structure
it. Don’t start writing without a paragraph-by-paragraph plan.

3 CLOSING THE STUDY

Writing a conclusion is often a daunting task to students. This is because students feel
they should write about something new in the conclusion, since it’s a different section. That is
not true. The conclusion is supposed to be a summary of what you wrote, highlighting the
key points and offering closure. You can also call for action, make recommendations based on
your analysis, and overview future possible research.4

3.1 PARAGRAPH: REDEFINITION OF KEY TERMS (OPTIONAL)

If you had to offer a general definition of a key term in the introduction (section 1.2),
now would be a good time to redefine it from a more complete perspective. The reader has
already been exposed to the logical development of your research and is now ready to deepen
his knowledge of its key terms.

3.2 PARAGRAPH: SUMMARY OF RESEARCH

Offer closure to your reader by building a summarized version of your research (that is,
how you answered your research question) in a single paragraph. Remember your reader has
just finished reading your essay, so you don’t need to go into details. Focus on the key points
to make sure the reader understands the gist of your study and its implications.

3.3 PARAGRAPH(S): CALL FOR ACTION

If you believe your research provides a framework that can be used to take action,
make recommendations in the final paragraphs. This is the space to overview possible
applications of your research—be it informing public policies, offering tools for the private
sector, or laying a foundation for further research.

You’ll need as many paragraphs as you have recommendations.

4
Purdue Online Writing Lab (2018). Conclusions. Retrieved from:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/argument_papers/
conclusions.html
4 ESSAY GRADING RUBRIC