Research Guides: Marketing Graduate Scholarly Writing Guide: Step 4: Write

Recommended Writing Resources

Websites
Ebooks

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Includes resources and instructional materials to assist with a variety of writing projects.
The Writing Process (Purdue OWL)
These OWL resources will help you with the writing process: pre-writing (invention), developing research questions and outlines, composing thesis statements, and proofreading. While the writing process may be different for each person and for each particular assignment, the resources contained in this section follow the general work flow of pre-writing, organizing, and revising.
University of Wisconsin's Writing Center
Includes instructional materials that were developed for teaching in the Writing Center.

Secrets to Writing Great Papers by Judi Kesselman-Turkel; Franklynn Peterson
ISBN: 9780299191436
Publication Date: 2003-10-01
Secrets to Writing Great Papers illustrates how to work with ideas--develop them, hone them, and transform them into words. It provides techniques and exercises for brainstorming, choosing the right approach, working with an unknown or boring assigned topic, overcoming writer's block, and selecting the best point of view.

Writing Tips

Tips for Taking Notes

Taking notes:

Use abbreviations, acronyms, or incomplete sentences to record information to speed up the note-taking process.
Write down only the information that answers your research questions.
Use symbols, diagrams, charts or drawings to simplify and visualize ideas

Forms of Notetaking

Use one of these notetaking forms to capture information:

Summarize: Capture the main ideas of the source succinctly by restating them in your own words.

Paraphrase: Restate the author's ideas in your own words.

Quote: Copy the quotation exactly as it appears in the original source. Put quotation marks around the text and note the name of the person you are quoting.

Why Outline?

Oultines provide a means of organizing your information in an hierarchical or logical order.

For research papers, a formal outline can help you keep track of large amounts of information.

How to Create an Outline?

To create an outline:

Place your thesis statement at the beginning.
List the major points that support your thesis. Label them in Roman Numerals (I, II, III, etc.).
List supporting ideas or arguments for each major point. Label them in capital letters (A, B, C, etc.).
If applicable, continue to sub-divide each supporting idea until your outline is fully developed. Label them 1, 2, 3, etc., and then a, b, c, etc.

Example Paper Outline
Use this example outline for your research paper.

Incorporate Source Material

Paraphrase Exercise - Purdue OWL