Research Paper Tips

As you work on your research papers, here are some things to keep in mind: * Does your introduction invite your reader in? Does your introduction lay the foundation for your research? Is there an introduction to the topic? Is it clear why this research is both relevant and significant? * Does your literature review include all the substantial literature on the food topic? Does your literature review include all the substantial literature on the media's coverage of the food topic? Does your literature review include all the substantial literature on framing theory? Is a majority of your research based on peer-reviewed scholarship? * Is it clear that your research questions follow from the scholarly research you presented earlier? Do each of your research questions address the food topic, media representation, framing and/or themes? Are these questions reasonable? * Does your methods section clearly explain textual analysis AND why textual analysis was used? Does your methods sections clearly explain the method that you used in this study? Is the rationale for the sample media type, time period and sample size both reasonable and clearly explained? Are your methods and sample reasonable to answer the above questions? * Are your findings clearly explained and examples used to flesh out the findings? Are the themes/frames clearly defined and explained? Is it clear why this research is both relevant and significant? Are all of the research questions answered? * Have you clearly explained the relevance and significance in the discussion? Are all of the issues regarding your food topic and media representation presented? Have you tied your research back to the literature in the field? * Have you concluded your research with an explanation of where this scholarship fits into the field and what questions it leads to? Have you tied your conclusion back to introduction? Is the importance of your work clearly explained? * Is the writing done in a sophisticated style and without errors? Is critical thinking clear? Is it graduate-level research?