Madigan Library: Assignment Calculator

Draft your thesis or research question

• Revise and narrow topic as needed. Many students think this is one of the hardest steps!
  • Move from topic to develop a thesis statement (from Harvard).
  • How to Write a Thesis Statement (from Indiana University).
  • Thesis Statement Creator
• Get support at the Writing Center
• Have questions? Ask us! Chat, email, online consultations from librarians.

Percent time spent on this step: 7

Find/evaluate evidence and sources

• Design your research strategy and try different keywords until you get results that are useful. 
• As you conduct research, ask yourself: What can this source do for me? How will I use this evidence?
  • As background or to provide a context?
  • To introduce and situate your thesis within existing conversation on topic?
  • To demonstrate the value of your working research question?
  • To support or counter an argument?
• Gather and read different types of sources or evidence such as online books, journal, magazine and newspaper articles
  • Search subject-specific databases to find articles in a specific discipline or subject (e.g. Business journals, construction journals, health sciences journals, etc.).
  • How do I find articles? (video, 7 mins)
  • What does it mean to be a scholarly source? (video, 10 mins)
  • How to read and comprehend scientific research articles (New York City College of Technology)
  • Finding newspaper articles
  • Websites and news (spend time evaluating any site before using it for academic work)
    • Can you believe what you'll do after watching this video? Assessing sources of information
  • Specialized sources such as historical or primary documents and archives, data or statistics or government publications and websites
• Gather information on your sources for your bibliography.
  • Consider starting a working bibliography
  • Watch Acknowledging Sources (video, 6 mins)

Percent time spent on this step: 20

Critically read & evaluate sources

• Evaluate sources based on your research question or working thesis.
  • How to read and comprehend scientific research articles (New York City College of Technology)
  • Take notes on readings while reading. Make notes on margins. Use tools to comment or highlight PDFs. 
  • Try close reading (from Harvard) and read to write strategies (from UNC).
• Conduct more research to fill in gaps as needed (see step 3).
• As you read your sources, think about how the sources talk to each other or could talk to each other. Watch what is the scholarly conversation (video, 2 mins) and the rules of the scholarly conversation (video, 2 mins).

Percent time spent on this step: 25

Develop structure. Draft citations.

• Polish or refine your arguments as a response to your research question (from Wisconsin). If needed, revisit How to Write a Thesis Statement (from Indiana University).
• Organize your thoughts and your paper's structure. Try the following techniques:
  • Outlines (from Indiana) or try Reverse Outlining (PDF).
  • Diagram such as brainstorming (from UNC), concept mapping, idea trees or quadrants. 
  • Talk out your structure. Record yourself talking about your topic and ideas. Transcribe your thoughts to the computer.
  • Get writing support from the Writing Center
• If you are ready to start writing, begin with segments or chunks, not necessarily the introduction or beginning. As you write you will discover more of what you want to say and then you can fit the chunks or segments together. 
• Watch Acknowledging Sources (video, 6 mins)

Percent time spent on this step: 5

Write first draft

Keep in mind there are many ways to approach writing your first draft.  You do not have to start at the beginning. Instead begin drafting segments or chunks. Concentrate on writing your rough ideas and not on revising.

• Draft additional segments. Develop connections between segments.
• Take breaks. Use breaks as a way to keep your brain and your writing fresh.
• As you incorporate others' ideas or words into your paper be sure to cite your sources with in-text citations. Ask your instructor if you are unsure on which citation style to use (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.).
  • Use strategies to avoid plagiarism (from Purdue OWL).
  • Quote and paraphrase sources (from Purdue OWL).
• Get writing support from the Writing Center.
• In light of your draft, you might need to revise your thesis.
• Use Revising drafts (from UNC).
• Draft your bibliography or works cited page. Be sure to double check the citations.

Percent time spent on this step: 20

Polish & put paper in final form

• Grammar topics (from Purdue OWL).
• Brief overview of punctuation (from Purdue OWL).
• Editing and proofreading your essay (from UNC).
  • Proofreading strategies (from Purdue OWL).
• Writing an effective title (from U of Minnesota's Center for Writing).
• Check citations and formatting.
  • Watch acknowledging sources (video, 6 mins)
  • Citation resources for APA and MLA
  • Be sure to double check the citations.

Percent time spent on this step: 5