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research paper template

Summary Essay: Prove Your Understanding by Summarizing

Basically, a summary essay is an essay that addresses the main points of a much larger work in a much shorter work. This requires concise writing and an intricate understanding of the article about which the summary essay is being written. In the most basic sense, a summary essay is written so that the reader gets the main points and ideas of a much larger work without investing the time to read the original work. It is important, in a summary essay, that you represent the points and general tone of the original article or text.

Expository Essay Writing: Focus on Facts and Relay Information. It's That Simple!

Most writing is done from the perspective of the writer and most essays are designed to explain the opinions of the author. However, an expository essay is different. In this type of essay, you are simply to report the views of others in a fair and unbiased manner. Do not infuse the essay with any personal opinions or points. The point of an expository essay is to present a topic and to provide information for the reader that will explain difficult elements of the topic.

Response Essay Writing: What are Your Thoughts?

A response essay focuses on your response to a given topic. This is usually begun by focusing on how the author thinks about the given material. Your response could be based in research as well as based in the personal thoughts and opinions of you. Some possible, and common, topics for a response essay include literary works and works of art. Your job is to breakdown various elements in order to examine important aspects of the given topic.

Research Paper: Discover New Ideas

The idea behind a research paper is for the writer to propose a new discovery and trying to persuade the reader that it is a valid discovery. It is more than just repeating the discoveries of others, but rather the writer will use the research of others to come up with a new idea.

Critical Essay - Art and Science of Analysis

Although the term "critical" is most often used in a negative sense, a critical essay does not necessarily need to have a negative tone. A critical essay is simply the writer's reaction to another reading. As the writer, you will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the reading as well as the information that it presents. This can end up framing the reading in either a positive or negative light.

A critical essay must start out with the writer restating the main idea of the reading or readings. It is a good idea to do this with each work that will be included in the overall analysis. After quickly summarizing the main points of the reading, the next step is to break down and evaluate the reading or readings. One level of assessment is to analyze the factual information that the author presents in the reading. This can take many forms but usually reliability and relevance are examined. The logical flow of the author's presentation of the material must also be taken into consideration when looking at the reading critically. Another level of analysis that the writer needs to take into consideration is whether or not there are opposing viewpoints than those that are presented in the reading. This takes careful analysis and presentation on the part of the writer. It also requires the writer to take an educated stand and present evidence to back up claims. It is important to keep personal feelings out of this critical analysis and focus on simple facts and logical conclusions. Another approach to writing a critical essay is research work that has already been done about the reading that the writer is analyzing. This is a great way to lend credibility to the claims and opinions that the writer is already trying to establish. The key to a successful critical essay is to stay focused on the facts and organization of the essay. The backbone of the critical essay is the making of claims and backing them up with credible evidence from the text. It is important for the writer to ensure that all information that is presented about the reading is relevant and flows in a logical manner.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay

A persuasive essay is very similar to an argumentative essay in that information is presented to attempt to persuade the reader that a certain point of view is more legitimate than another. Another element of a persuasive essay will try to convince the reader to take a certain action or to modify a behavior they are already performing. Usually, the success of a persuasive essay is based on many things. First is the information presented that is in support of the author’s point. If a reader can sense that the writer is less than very well informed on the topic, credibility will be lost. Another aspect of convincing the reader to buy into the writer’s point of view is quality of writing. Although this may seem obvious, it is critical to building effective momentum toward a powerful argument.

Interpretive Paper Template

An interpretive paper relies heavily on writer opinion backed by factual research. As with any other form of analytical paper the writer should make sure that any opinion offered in the paper can be substantiated by other established researchers, or be able to show a clear cause and effect situation if presenting a new hypothesis in the field of study.

Title page template and tips

As you can see from previous articles, some of the differences between research paper types are very subtle and this is the reason that many students, even those who do know their subject matter very well, still only receive a B or C grade for their paper. Because tutors place as much emphasis on how a paper is written as the paper content even bright students can feel disheartened with their progress if they are not receiving top grades for their work. That is why learning about different research paper types can help you achieve consistently high grades as you write papers that meet your tutor's requirements specifically and in every aspect. You will learn more ways of improving your research paper writing as you move through this course.

The final page of this article contains a sample title page that can be used to provide a professional cover to most research paper types.

Template of a Report

A report is usually a more business like paper than the other essays featured in this blog and although a report can be written on any topic, the rigidity of the format of this type of paper doesn't lend itself to creative or persuasive content.