Effective Strategies for Writing Masters Papers
I’m pleased to introduce “Effective Strategies for Writing Master Papers,” a very helpful and practical guide in academic writing that seems to be very useful for my graduate education. At the first sight I saw the title of this book, I thought it is just a general guide for how to finish either a thesis or a term paper; however, with a closer look at the table of contents and some skim readings, it is obvious that this book is on the point to reveal every single step for being a master of academic writing. I do feel a little bit of excitement when knowing that there is such kind of book to help the “dummies” like me to get start and work through this tough but essential process. Well, it is not easy to escape from slogging through producing a research manuscript in graduate study; even for the experienced researchers, they also have abundant baffling or frustrating moments in creating a publishable and acceptable piece of work. For beginners in a certain research field, they are often confused to the way of encapsulating their critical thinking, profound and strong evidences in a single research paper. As something that I feel sure about myself is there is not any shortcut for getting know and know well about the research topic and the literature review; however, good strategies and helpful guidance would possibly be effective to shorten the pains and cope even the moments before “writer’s block”. Loved by many skillful writers and spoken out by the experts in the field, strategies count much more than the crude willingness and passion in mastering good academic writing. However, those strategies are not granted from the birth, but to be learnt through different attempt and practices. In the preface of this book, the author positions this book as a work that offers straightforward, easy to understand, step by step and most importantly effective strategies to demystify the challenges in academic writing. I believe this book will lead the readers to go through a successful and holistic writing processes and experience, avoiding many most frequently made mistakes in writing. Last but not least, I would say, “Effective Strategies for Writing Master Papers” by Linda Robinson Barr is not a miracle or magic book to cure every writer’s woe, but is indeed a powerful tonic and it really does work. I sincerely look forward to explore this book and strongly suggest to anybody who will benefit from it.
The good news is that all of the strategic work that you have already done in narrowing down your area of interest will help you immensely in this last phase. That said, it’s important to keep in mind that your research question—how you frame your area of interest and the specific questions you seek to answer within that area—will guide the direction and scope of your paper more than anything else. Some students end up delaying their search for a topic even more, but it is the rare graduate student who is not increasingly worried about his or her research topic as time goes on. So although the original area of interest you began with will probably change somewhat, it’s crucial to have at least an idea to begin with. This may involve “echoing” a published debate, drawing on the insights of others, revising a current understanding or as the case can often be, simply generating a new framework for understanding. In truth, the research question has begun to emerge before any real review of the literature can be undertaken because you need to know a little bit about your area of interest before you can investigate it. And despite the often-heard warning that capstone students are diverging too far from their “area of proven expertise,” it’s important to remember that the capstone can be an opportunity to develop significant new expertise. This can sometimes become a Catch-22, compressing both students’ intellect and faculty advice into an increasingly narrow band. On the one hand, faculty are more likely to provide help, guidance and feedback when they see a pupil work to the certain goal.
Once you have a list of references for your paper, you already have what you need to conduct a literature review. Each article, book, or any other source you have in your literature review list will have a reference – in other words, a publisher, a publication date, a title, and (in the case of a book) the place of publication. References provide the reader with the opportunity to check the sources to which you refer. You should include references for every source you list in your literature review, and since you already have the references for every source in your list, every reference that you had in your literature review will be listed in the references at the end of your work. This means that you just need to find which quotations or examples you will use to refer to in your literature review. You don’t need to use them all, but using a range of different sources will help show to your reader in your literature review that you have read around your topic. Also, don’t forget to mention a relevant source for every quotation or evidence you use in your literature review. This will go a very long way with your lecturer, who will be able to see how seriously you have taken your research, and give you marks accordingly.
I am often asked ‘how to structure a paper’ and the answer given is ‘well, it depends’. This is not particularly helpful, and so I have written a more specific guide to structuring a paper. It won’t give you the definitive answer on how to write your paper, but I will endeavor to provide you with some key ingredients and a few pitfalls to avoid. Let’s look at the structure of a typical Masters paper. It will probably be much more straightforward than you originally thought. The main thing to bear in mind is that both your structure of writing and your argument – or what you are trying to say – should be clear and obvious throughout. In a paper, as with the argument itself, the structure has to be continually in view. Your paper will contain many provisos. However, so don’t be anxious about this. But I want to give you some idea of what I, and many academics and tutors, look for when reading a paper. This is not the only way to do a Masters level paper. Most good papers try to have at least one ‘key finding’. This is usually presented in the introduction to your paper. Then the key finding is elaborated through the structure of the argument. But the key finding is always the starting point of a good paper. Keep this in mind! Most papers are made up of three quite separate kinds of writing. There is the ‘literature review’ that in some ways is a running research, in that it is reviewing what has been done. The ‘academic skirmishes’ is a term I use to describe where authors are saying ‘so and so says this but we think our view is better because…’. In such papers, it is quite appropriate to write ‘I am not convinced by X’s argument in this paper’ or ‘Y presents a contrary view that our, now proven, argument on…’ and so forth. But, especially if comments on your own work and on the ‘proof’, they should not dominate the paper – after all, the paper is yours. And finally, the kind of writing is what is known as the ’empirical paper’, and this is a paper that uses evidence from a study or studies to back up an argument. The structure of such a paper is quite standard, and it is quite useful to know the usual layout of a paper. However, I have used it enough to make it clear that it is what follows some kind of researched project. And even then, there is a central focus with that structure, which I will come to. First of all, we need to know what a Masters level paper is. It should not just be a quick copy from the internet or a book that is available. A Masters paper is not a quick ‘find all you can and copy’ type of exercise. It is not even a ‘literature review’ (as many of your holidays turn out to be!). It is what is known as a research paper. This simply means that you will be finding and reading books, scholarly articles, and perhaps newspapers. This will all lead to a paper containing.
I’m glad I know all it takes to write an effective paper now: a good introduction, selecting and explaining the topic well, doing a good literature review, managing all the other steps well and finally wrapping everything with a good conclusion. I believe the task of writing a master’s paper should not intimidate those pursuing this academic journey. The reason is that mastering the effective strategies discussed in this article can help any writer to successfully accomplish the task. I have discovered that key among the many strategies is ensuring a continuous flow from one step to the other. In addition, I have realized that the best way to prepare to write the thesis is by preparing to write. Every step that I make, from choosing the topics of my master’s paper to finally turning it in, will be a learning experience which will prepare me to write a successful thesis. Last but not least, because the writer has to pay close attention to the jotting down of notes and in the process coming up with the research, a writer of a master’s paper has to select a work that he or she could go through over and over again because every time the work will be reviewed and discussed. This article will add value and make a significant contribution to an individual’s capacity to conduct a successful paper in this level of academic. Well, the world is waiting for such discovered innovations and knowledge and these strategies are going to help many conquer the phobia for the master’s paper. No doubt, developing a critical research paper in any discipline calls on a student’s effort, time and cognitive skill; but mastering of these recognized strategies by T. J. T and J. R. H can make a difference in realizing successful writings. A combination of these efforts – mind, time, and employing these strategies – will provide one with the confidence and capability of producing a quality and substantiated paper. It is very clear that the strategies and the commitment described here are equally important especially in the cognitive development and the eventual academic excellence. I believe the knowledge I have gleaned from this will greatly assist in my endeavor to do research of my interest that is going to be viable and a paper that will add meaningful into the particular area of my concern. The other significant aspect will be writing the master’s paper not only for the academic requirement but also for publication. My personal ambitions are achievable because anything published is something that has already been accepted in the academic field and possibly in the informed national discourse. I am sure anyone who has written any kind of a research paper, whatever small it might be, will appreciate the value of the strategies discussed in this article. Every writer should now stop dwelling in the very common writer’s block concussion. Kindly click the order now icon on the webpage and order for a paper in your area of specialization and let a professional writer worry about all your pressures. I have received this interesting article on the book report No. 1 and I have decided to do a report on the article itself. This work will be great, a source of knowledge and very reliable. I believe each and every reader of this article will be amazed by the detailed discussion and research put forth. It is the high time students should start putting into practice the skills and knowledge learnt from this article. Assuredly, it is the only way to combat and defeat the dread and despair of a master’s paper. Lastly, I must thank the two authors for the powerful guidelines. The article has been very inspiring and instructive. Thank you.
