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Research Project: OUTLINE

Overview

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Creating an annotated outline of your paper

For this stage of your Research Paper project you will be submitting an annotated outline of your research paper for us to comment on and for peers from your lab to provide you with basic feedback on. The purpose of the annotated outline is to stimulate you to think about the arguments and ideas themselves before you sit down to write the full sentences and paragraphs that will constitute your research report.

Task Description Point Value Links
Continue refining the topic and question that you described in your elevator pitch —
In-Text Citation and Works Cited Page, number, formatting, and correspondence 10
Qualitative evaluation of Research Question, Major Claim, and other major arguments 10
Evaluation of outline formatting, organization, and presence of some annotations (*) 10
TOTAL 30 (of 200)

Important Notes:

  • You must submit an outline to participate in the Peer Review – these are counted as a single assignment. Instructions for Peer Review (due a week later) are in a separate document under that module
  • We will not review your annotations for content, just that they’re there. No annotations = No points this section.

Assignment Details

For full credit, your annotated outline should include the following features:

Your name

A Descriptive Working Title for your Paper (click to read more about “working titles” (Links to an external site.)) (another resource (Links to an external site.))

At least 5 APA-style in-text citations to promising and appropriate sources in the approximate location in the outline where you will be citing them in your final paper

At least 5 complete APA-style references in a properly formatted reference section at the end (does not need to be on its own page for the outline). These must correspond properly to the in-text citations

An outline format that makes it easy to see the relation between parts – bullets, roman numerals, numbers, etc. are common ways to achieve this. Higher levels in the outline should correspond to more important parts

A clearly worded research question that your paper will address or answer (review Paper Part 1 for info)

A 1-2 sentence “claim” (an answer to your question) that you intend to argue and support with reasons and evidence

Clear & orderly topic sentences OR detailed descriptions of each major sections and what it will do

At least a few annotations recording your own reactions, concerns, and thoughts, or further explaining major or minor ideas and how these will be incorporated into your final paper

Submission Instructions

When: Please see that your outline meets the minimum standards above by the deadline shown on the course calendar or the schedule on the home page. The outline file will become un-editable at the deadline, so be sure to have something pasted or written in that document by the deadline. Even a partially completed outline will earn more credit than a completely blank one.

How: As with the previous two paper stages, you should edit the file named LAST NAME, FIRST NAME – Lab Section – Outline shared with your UCI Google Apps Account (your Google Drive (Links to an external site.)). Any other submission attempts will earn no credit. File names may vary slightly, but you will always have one file containing the word “OUTLINE”. If you are uncertain where this file is located at this stage in the quarter, it is your responsibility to seek assistance during lab or help sessions.

Annotated Outline Major Features

Annotated Outline Do’s

  • For this assignment you will produce an outline containing all the major sections and sub-sections of your paper:
    • Working Title
    • Introduction
    • Body
      • Literature Review (Could be the bulk of your paper, depending on your specific question)
      • Methods (if applicable)
      • Results (if applicable)
      • Discussion (if applicable)
    • Conclusion
  • In addition, you should make the following clear and easy to understand through the inclusion of many “annotations”:
    • Research Question
    • Major Claim (your answer to question) and any Subsidiary Claims
    • Reasons that support your claim
    • Any evidence that you’ve found so far
    • Any warrants that you already know you’ll need
    • Any acknowledgements and responses that you anticipate needing
  • In addition to including these major elements, you should discuss as much as you can about what will go in each section
  • If you have never created an annotated outline before, I strongly suggest reviewing the resources provided in this document, along with reviewing chapters 1-8 in your course textbook.

Annotated Outline Don’ts

  • What an annotated outline is not:
    • An annotated outline is not an annotated bibliography (or notes). Annotated bibliographies are essentially just long lists of citations with short summaries following each one. Annotated outlines, in sharp contrast, are mostly comprised of your claims, arguments, and reasons, arranged in the best approximation you can make to the order they’ll appear in your longer finished paper. The major difference between the Annotated Notes stage and the Annotated Outline stage is organization and structure. Even if you took extremely detailed notes and included lots of additional thoughts about how to write your paper, your outline will be a major reorganization.
    • An annotated outline is not a paper. An outline should be simple. It should lay out the major ideas that you wish to express in the final product (as best you can at the moment) and it should clearly show how those ideas relate to each other, showing a clear progression of thought from start to finish. One major purpose of this outline, then, is to assist you in making sure that your final paper is not a series of disconnected paragraphs but a structured essay. A well-thought out and concisely written essay makes a small number of clear points and backs them up with evidence that is appropriate to the argument that your are making and the audience. To do this well, you must have a sense for what it is you want to say and how you plan to organize your writing before you sit down to write the actual paper.

Specific Recommendations and Pointers

Order and Headings

  • Start with the major headings appropriate for the type of APA research paper you will be writing
    • Based on examples that are similar to what you want to write, which of the usual headings are used?
    • In what order do you want to present the information for your own paper?
      • Chronologically?
      • Thematically?
      • By Importance?
      • By Publication?
      • By Method or Perspective? There are many other orders to choose from!
    • Use the most logical keywords or phrases that help describe each section as the sub-headings

Completeness

  • Once you have sketched the basic structure of the paper, make sure it is complete
    • Make sure you have a place somewhere for each major thing you want to say
    • Did you include important elements like the research question or thesis itself
    • Did you think about “funneling” the information (starting general or meeting the readers where they are at and then moving toward your specific question) as you sketched out your introduction and lit review?
    • If there are elements that you feel need to be there and are not, discuss these via your annotations

Annotations

  • Now keep annotating! Consider adding some or all of the following to your core outline:
    • CREDIBILITY ASSESSMENTS: How reliable and credible are the potential sources you’ve found?
    • PARAGRAPH SUMMARIES/SKETCHES: Add topic sentences for each major sub-topic in each section
      • For example – separate statements about the “pros” vs. the “cons” of technology #1
    • PROBLEMS: Mention difficult ideas that you’re unsure about how to deal with right now
    • TRANSITIONS: How will you transition seamlessly from topic to topic? Describe briefly
    • AUDIENCE: How do you think your intended audience will react to various ideas in your outline?
    • OTHER THINGS? The annotated outline is your personal roadmap to your paper
      • Make it your own by adding any other great ideas you have for you final paper
    • AT THE END. Look over the entire outline you have proposed. What was the point? State it in as few words as possible. Great, now you have a title! Add this title to the top of you annotated outline.

Sample Outlines and Resources for Writing
  • To assist you in thinking about what you may want to be addressing in your research paper, a thorough list of possible questions one might answer in the course of a research paper can be found under the Paper Outline Module or by clicking here.
  • This “outline” is there to help you 1.) ensure that you cover essential topics, and 2.) think carefully through the most important issues that surround the writing process before you commence with writing. It is not intended to be used as the starting point for your own outline or as a perfect roadmap to writing the perfect paper. For most of you, lots of moving these pieces around, remove some, and replacing outhers that are not relevant to your topic will occur.
  • Sample outlines can also be found under the Paper Outline Module or by clicking here. These actual outlines from past quarters are provided to give you a sense of expectations for high-quality outlines. While no outline is perfect, putting together an outline with features similar to those found here should go a long way toward guaranteeing a good grade and a solid final paper.
  • Additional helpful resources are listed below: