Research Paper in Progress, Introductory
Area of Study: College Writing
Study Tutor's Comments:
Assignments 1, 2, and 3 that follow were done by a student in her first course with Empire State College, a course in College Writing offered by the Center for Distance Learning. This student had very little experience with writing a research paper. The general assignment was to write a research paper on a topic of the student's choice. The specific assignments and tutor comments show how she worked with some important writing concepts basic to research writing (e.g., what is a thesis?, how does the thesis control the information in the rest of the paper?).
Assignment 1 is part of a structured learning journal that asks students to identify their research question, working thesis, and categories of researched support. Assignments 2 and 3 are, respectively, the rough draft and final copy of the research paper.
Note how this student's thesis changed as she progressed through the assignments. She needed to change her thesis in order to make it correspond with the information that she wanted to include in the research paper. In her case, it made more sense to change the thesis instead of the research. Note, too, how the student developed a focus and structure as she progressed from the idea to the draft to the final stages of the writing.
The end result of this student's work is a clearly-written research paper at introductory level.
Student's Comments:
"At one time I thought I was doing a research paper (now I know it wasn't done right) which I found frustrating because I didn't have a structured guidance. I can say that the method I am now studying provides a detailed format and that helps me arrive at a good topic that I will find lots of material I can use. I am sure that the slow and steady progress towards the completion of a research paper is an essential tool."
Assignment 1 - Pre-Writing
Assignment 2 - Research Paper Draft
Assignment 3 - Final Research Paper 
