Tips on Writing A Research Paper

1
Tips on Writing A Research Paper

• For BDCOL Students
• James Corum
• Dean

2
Choosing a Topic

• Choose a thesis topic that
• Deeply and genuinely interests you (this is the
  one thing your adviser cant monitor).
• Passes the So What? Test, i.e. the answer will
  matter (whether or not people realize it)
  ideally it should matter to someone in your
  government or armed forces.
• Involves an actual question with more than one
  possible answer (avoid advocacy pieces).
• You can successfully complete by March.
• Consider a variety of thesis topics, and talk to
  many faculty members about them before settling
  on one.

3
Outlining

• OUTLINE!
• OUTLINE!
• OUTLINE!
• Time spent outlining is never wasted.
• Remember, the final thing youll have to do with
  your thesis is to outline it again, when you
  prepare your PowerPoint presentation at the end
  of the year. Until you have some sense of what
  the slides for a chapter will look like, youre
  probably not ready to write it.

4
Introductions and Conclusions

• Basic principles (for the thesis, and usually for
  each substantive chapter)
• Tell the reader what youre going to say.
• Say it.
• Tell the reader what youve just said.
• Remember
• Some readers wont read the whole thesis
  (especially the important ones who can crush your
  career like a bug). However, you can still
  educate and impress them.
• Some readers are much dumber than you are.
• Some readers think they are much smarter than you
  are.
• Some fall into two or three of these categories
  at once.

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Introductions and Conclusions (cont.)

• A clearly organized and presented thesis
• Is as easy as possible to skim, and to review
  after reading.
• Will be easy for you to summarize on presentation
  slides.
• Is more likely to have two signatures and little
  blood on it.
• How to do it
• Clear organization and roadmaps to explain
• What youre going to do
• Why youre going to do it
• Why youre going to do it in this order (if it
  isnt obvious)
• Summaries when and where they are appropriate
• Section and subsection headings
• Good topic sentences

6
Section Titles

• Sections and subsections are the greatest
  innovation in thesis writing since the footnote.
  Take advantage of them.
• Rules
• Always have text between one heading and the
  next.
• Never have just one consecutive section of a
  given order (like if theres an A. in your
  outline, there has to be a B.).
• Leave more space above a title than below it.
• Boldface and oversized fonts are fine in place of
  underlining or italics in section titles, but in
  your text use italics or underlining for
  emphasis, not boldface.

7
Section Titles (cont.)

• Turabians Guidance (see AUSG, pp. 87-88)
• Chapter Numbers and Titles center and
  capitalize
• Major Section Headings center and underline
• Subsection Headings flush left underlined
• Sub-subsection Headings run-in underlined
• But any sensible, consistent, and aesthetically
  pleasing system is acceptable (provided your
  advisor says it is).

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9
Topic Sentences

• A paragraphs first sentence (or sometimes
  several) should encapsulate or at least indicate
  the idea(s) contained within the paragraph.
• Someone who skims your thesis reading only the
  first sentence or two of each paragraph should
  still get a reasonable sense of what you are
  saying.
• You may wish to write a topic sentence outline as
  the final step before full-blown writing.
• If you can master writing good topic sentences
  (it will eventually happen unconsciously),
  everything else about writing will come
  relatively easily.

10
Topic Sentence Examples

• Besides doctrinal and moral
  considerations, the militarys organizational
  arrangements for Rolling Thunder limited the air
  campaign. . . .
• The absence of a single air commander
  produced chaos. . . .
• The lack of a single air commander further
  prevented military chiefs from integrating
  Rolling Thunder with other air efforts in
  Southeast Asia. . . .
• Mark Clodfelter, The Limits of Air Power (New
  York Free Press, 1989), 128-29.
• It is an axiom of surface theorists
  that the defense is the stronger form of war. . .
  .
• Air power does not fit this
  formulation. . . .
• Moreover, in order to defend all his
  vital areas, a defender must spread his squadrons
  widely, and each point protected must have
  sufficient strength to drive back an attacker. .
  . .
• Phillip S. Meilinger, 10 Propositions Regarding
  Air Power (AF History Museums Program, 1995),
  14-16.
• Political leadership targeting is
  not likely to produce coercive leverage, however,
  for three reasons. First, it is very hard to
  find individuals and kill them. . . .
• Second, truly idiosyncratic wars
  are rare in modern times. . . .
• Third, succession in most states is
  highly unpredictable in war, the more so in
  closed societies. . . .
• Robert A. Pape Jr., Bombing to Win (Ithaca
  Cornell University Press, 1996), 82-83.

11
Block Quotes

• When your composition includes a lengthy
  quotation from another source, place the
  quotation in a single-spaced, indented block
  quote rather than in the text itself. According
  to the latest AU Style Guide
• In practice, however, a much better
  guideline, used throughout the civilized world,
  is to use block quotes for any quotations which
  are four or more lines long, as advised by The
  Chicago Manual of Style.
• 1 Air University Style Guide for Writers and
  Editors (Maxwell AFB Air University, Sept.
  1996), 11.

Use block quotations for passages that are easily
set apart from the text, that are 10 or more
typed lines, or that involve more than one
paragraph. Indent from both sides and
single-space the quoted material. Do not use
quotation marks to enclose the quotation and do
not indent for paragraphing.1
12
Footnotes and Bibliographies

• Footnotes are easier to read, and thus more
  likely to be read, than endnotes. Whether this
  is good or bad from your point of view depends on
  whats in your footnotes.
• It is often useful to divide your bibliography
  into categories other than just books,
  articles, etc., especially if your thesis
  includes a number of largely separate subjects
  (e.g. case study chapters). Making separate
  sections for primary and secondary sources is
  only occasionally worthwhile.
• Bibliographies may contain sources that arent
  cited in your footnotes, but should include all
  those that are.
• Your bibliography may be the most useful part of
  your thesis.

13
Citation Formats

• See the Air University Style Guide (Appendices A
  B) or Turabians A Guide for Writers of Term
  Papers, Theses, and Dissertations for examples of
  footnote and bibliography formats for almost
  every possible type of citation, including
  internet sources (in the AUSG).
• Common footnote citation formats
• 1 David R. Mets, Orville, Wilbur, and Me
  Reflections on My Life in the Air Corps
  (Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Duke University Press,
  1991).
• 2 Karl Mueller, The Use of Nuclear Weapons in
  MOOTW, Airpower Journal 12, no. 2 (Summer 1998)
  22-35.
• 3 Harold R. Winton, Three By Three The Wit and
  Wisdom of J. F. C. Fuller, in Dennis Drew, ed.,
  Overrated Military Thinkers, Fifth ed. (New York
  Norton, 1986), 251-299.
• 4 Ibid., 285.

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Citation Formats (cont.)

• Bibliography Citation Format Examples
• Chiabotti, Stephen D. Death from Above The USAF
  Officer Assignment Process. Maxwell AFB, Ala.
  Air University Press, 2010 (forthcoming).
• Core Incompetency Information Systems in the
  U.S. Air Force. Air Force Times, 17 January
  1998, 6.
• Corum, James S. How the Luftwaffe Won World War
  II. In The Encyclopedia of German Military
  Fantasy. Vol. XXI. Buenos Aires Volksturm,
  1994, 22-39.
• Drew, Dennis. Air University is to University
  as Air Guitar is to Guitar. Naval War College
  Review 51, no. 2 (Spring 1998) 108-122.
• ________. An Abject Apology to AETC.
  Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch, 19 July 1998,13-14.
• Andres, Rick and Edward Westermann. eds. Folk
  Songs of the Old South. Revised ed. Washington
  Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.
• Morgan, Forrest Gump. 50 Ways to Kill Someone
  With a Pipecleaner. In Forrest Morgan, ed., The
  Big Book of Unarmed Combat. New York Knopf,
  1988. Pp. 367-71.
• Terino, John. Quaker Airpower The Passing Game
  at Penn. Ph.D. diss., Dept. of History,
  University of Pennsylvania, June 2011
  (forthcoming).

15
Active and Passive Voice

• Active Voice My adviser signed my thesis.
• Passive Voice My thesis was rejected by my
  adviser.
• Clearly, active voice is much better than passive
  voice.
• In general, using passive voice makes your
  writing less dynamic and harder to read. Not
  convinced ? Consider how the following classic
  lines sound in passive voice
• I know what youre thinking Were six bullets
  fired, or only five?(Movie, Dirty Harry)
• He cant be let in here! The big board will be
  seen! (Movie Dr. Strangelove)
• I want every gopher on this course to be killed
  by you! (Movie Caddyshack) Correct me if Im
  wrong. but if all the golfers are killed, Ill be
  locked up and the key will be thrown away.

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Active and Passive Voice

• Sometimes passive voice is appropriate,
  especially if the actor is unimportant or not
  well defined
• The F-15 was developed in response to the
  experience of air combat over North Vietnam.
• The O-5 promotion list will be released on
  Thursday.
• Mistakes were made.
• Active voice emphasizes the subject, passive
  voice emphasizes the object. Which is better
  depends on what youre saying
• Spains dreams of European hegemony were
  shattered by the destruction of the Armada.
• The destruction of the Armada shattered Spains
  dreams of European hegemony.

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Split Infinitives

• Wrong I told you to never call me here.
• Right I told you never to call me here.
• Exceptions to the rule
• Once in a while its just too cumbersome to avoid
  splitting an infinitive. Dont write sentences
  in your thesis that sound ridiculous to you.
• And sometimes you may want to split an infinitive
  deliberately in order to place extra emphasis on
  an adverb
• Remember Star Trek To boldly go where no man
  has gone before
• But you should always be aware that youre
  splitting an infinitive, and you should always
  feel at least a little guilty about it.

18
The AU Style Guide

• Read this whole book. Im serious. You will
  learn things.
• Especially important sections for many people
• ? apostrophe ? epigraph
• ? comma ? hyphenated compound words
• ? ellipses ? numbers
• and the examples of note and bibliography
  entries in the back.
• Some conventions described in the AUSG are
  arbitrary (aside from the silly one about 10-line
  block quotes), e.g.
• US vs. U.S. (but try to use it only as an
  adjective)
• 5 February 1997 vs. February 5, 1997
• spelling numbers between ten and ninety-nine
• Whether you adhere to the Guides rules or not,
  be consistent (and of course do what your advisor
  tells you).

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Thesis Formatting Guidance

• Margins
• 1 all around
• Indent block quotes ½ on both sides
• Footnotes, not Endnotes
• Start numbering from 1 in each chapter
• Fonts
• Times New Roman or Bookman Old Style, 11 or 12
  pitch
• Footnotes same font as text, but smaller (10
  pitch)
• Use same font for Headings, Section Titles, etc.
• Spacing
• 1.5 spacing for text, single space block quotes
  and footnotes
• Miscellany
• Use Arabic numbers for chapter numbers
• Two spaces between sentences.

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Final Writing Admonitions

• Follow your advisers guidanceunless hes wrong.
• Only quote other authors when its really
  worthwhile. Your own words are usually better.
• A paragraph should be about one idea. More
  people write paragraphs that are too long than
  paragraphs that are too short. (This is also
  true of sentences.)
• Less is more. Do not write sentences or use
  words or expressions that you wouldnt use in an
  oral presentation.
• Complex sentences are often harder to read than
  to understand when spoken by the author.
• If you tend to overwrite, try reading your work
  aloud after you write it. (I am totally serious
  about this.)
• Try to get family members to read your writing
  (this will also give them a chance to see you
  this spring).

21
Corums Comments

• A Few Basics
• Correcting some of the most irritating student
  writing habits
• A couple of tips on moving the thesis along

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More on Introductions

• First paragraph- 3-4 snappy sentences to get
  attention of reader
• For paper about 1 pages. For thesis, a short
  chapter approx 7 pages
• Tell the reader what your subject is.
• Tell the reader why its important.
• Explain your methodology- questions etc.
• Outline evidence used
• Describe conclusions you hope to reach

23
Use Subheadings

• A useful way to make a subject transition
• Helpful to the reader

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Bad Habits

• Chattiness. Assuming a close personal bond with
  the reader. Lets move on to We airmen
  know. Keep it to direct and clear English
• Acronyms. AAO (Avoid Acronym Overuse). SAAS
  record is 8 in one sentence. Recent example, He
  will receive briefings on SLI, ASTP and will
  communicate with the ISS Crew from the POIC.
• Do NOT begin sentences with And. Its legal
  only very, very, very rarely.
• Don not repeat the full name and title throughout
  chapter. After the first Lieutenant General
  Mitchell Goering Douhet IV you can just say
  General Douhet or Douhet.

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Moving the thesis Along

• Remember the Hemingway rule no drinking,
  lovemaking, deep sea fishing or other Hemingway
  stuff until he had done his 1,000 typed words (3
  double-spaced pages)
• Dont wait to write until the mood hits you.
  Few are ever in the mood to write.
• Stick to a routine. Set deadlines and daily
  goals. Dont get up until word goal is reached.
• 1,000 words a day (weekday) will ensure a
  complete thesis done in 4-6 weeks.